The Albany News (Albany, Tex.), Vol. 124, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 27, 2000 Page: 4 of 16
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Opinion Pa
Page 4
The Albany News
Thursday, April 27, 2000
. The Albany News
Since 1875
£ Oldest journalistic venture west of the Brazos
Editor / Publisher Donnie A. Lucas
Managing Editor
Melmda L. Lucas
Advertising Manager
Donna Hargravc
Moran Correspondent
Audrey Brooks
Photography Assistant
Jesus Cisneros
Office Assistant
Betty Viertel
editorial
Final Challenge
For the second straight year, the Albany
Academic Challenge team has advanced to
the finals.
This year the local whiz team will face
the Jim Ned Indians in the championship
round, adding to the anticipation because,
of district rivalry.
The team will tape the final bout on
Tuesday, May 2 at 7:00 p.m. Albany fans
are encouraged to attend, but should plan
to arrive early since seating is limited at the
KTXS studio.
The show will air on Thursday, May 4 at
6:30p.m., preempting "Hollywood Squares."
The Academic Challenge team was one
of 32 to start the year and has now made it
the final two again. Teams that they de-
feated along the way were Abilene High,
Haskell, Rising Star and Sweetwater.
We congratulate the each member of the
team and their sponsor Carolyn Waller.
All the hard work and extra hours have
paid off. You have represented your school,
yourselves and Albany in an outstanding
manner.
Health Fair
Local residents will have the opportu-
nity to have a fun, entertaining, informa-
tive and possibly lifesaving day at the an-
nual Public Health Fair on Thursday.
The important event is sponsored by .the
Shackelford County Community Resource
Center arid the many participating health
care organizations. Doors open at 9:00 a.m.
and will close at,5:00 p.m. at the Albany,
Youth Center.
Organizers are expecting some 30 differ-
ent professionals and agencies to be on
hand to offer a wide range of sendees, screen-
ings and demonstrations.
Residents will have the opportunity to
update immunizations, check blood levels,
blood pressure and much more.
Residents will also be able to gain infor-
mation about a new insurance program
known as Children's Health Insurance Pro-
gram, which will provide quality health
insurance at very affordable rates for lower
income families.
The health rair comes along only once a
year and the services available could well
save a life. Make plans to head to the Youth
Center on Thursday.
policy
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AFFILIATIONS,
2000 MEMBER:Texas Press Association, 1
West Texas Press Association.
panderings by Pat
By Pat Lidia Jones
Random Thoughts
Because I am no admirer of the
Clinton couple and what they have
done to the dignity and prestige of the
presidency of the United States, I
sent a contribution to Rudy Guiliani's
senate campaign.
In due course 1 received a nice
thank-you note from Rudy. In it I was
asked if 1 would like to meet Rudy in
person "when he visits the Albany,
Texas area."
Don't you love it?
My partner and I are enjoying
Albany's latest addition, the Prairie
Star. On Saturday noon, we ate lunch
there, lie had a burger and curly
fries. 1 had my favorite sandwich from
the deli - lots of thin slices of salami
and Swiss cheese topped with a layer
of green and ripe olives on divine
homemade sub rolls by Treca.
We loved sitting at a front window
and got a kick out of watching people
come and go. The Prairie Star is well
stocked with name-brand goods and
is so cleverly decorated. Treca and
Eddie are proud, I know, of how all
their hard work has come together.
The best thing I can say about an
incredibly mild winter such as we
have just experienced is, "Have you
seen the geraniums in my front yanJ?"
Every year, freezes kill our gerani-
ums and each spring we start over.
This year we started with the most
gorgeous riot of flowers. Cierald
Braddy, whose careful and experi-
enced care, along with a warm win-
ter, hds made my yard the prettiest
it's ever been.
I notice that roses all over town are
having a great season too. And last
week on my way to the dentist's office
in Abilene, I counted 14 different kinds
of wildflowers along the road.
I could do without the dust storms
and wind, though.
My partner got out his high school
trombone to practice up to be in the
town band.
At his first blast on the 'bone, our
dog, Janey, surrendered. She won't
go into the room where the trombone
is, and when he picks it up, she hides.
Morning News last week about the
CBS program I wrote of a while back
It is called "Survivors," and it will
begin airing May 31 on CBS.
It is the one where a group, chosen
from thousands of applicants, is trans-
ported to a deserted island ofTMalay-
sia for a televised bare existence sur-
vival test.
The group votes one of their team
out every day or so until they are
down to two, one of which wins a
million dollars cash.
The first one of the group was voted
off the island was a man who an-
nounced that women were dumber
than Cows. The article said he left the
island accompanied by loud mooing.
Moo...
the Class of'48, had this same prob-
lem in getting the yearbook ready for
their AHS 50th reunion. I understand
that they wrote, phoned, and finally
went to find classmates to get their
stories.
Albany classmates, get busy.
Tom Perini's new cookbook by
Time/Life is wonderful. I love his
hominy dish. He gives credit to
Albany's Louise Matthews for the
idea. I thought I didn't like hominy
until I tasted his dish, which com-
bines it with bacon, cheese and pep-
pers.
Shirley Caldwell and Holly Ber-
nard have the book in their Albany
shops a nd maybe some other places in
town do too..
There was an article in the Dallas
My 50th class reunion will be at
Homecoming this fall. We've sent two
letters so far. We're begging for pho-
tos, then and now, and autobiogra-
phies from each class member. So far,
we've gotten five - two from in-town.
Our 50th class yearbook may be a
pamphlet. Why is this like pulling
teeth?
Pat Roach and Bonnie Rich, from
small business focus
Albany's new baseball facility is
wonderful and so comfortable. How-
ever, I'm disappointed to see our school
track deteriorating, broken and grass
growing on it. Is it fixable?
Easter is past. Can school's end,
graduation and Fandangle be far
away?
By Jack Faris
My professional life is dedicated to
protecting and promoting small-busi-
ness owners. So people often come to
me, asking for advice on how to start a
business, how to make it successful.
And for all my years of listening and
learning, for all my miles of traveling,
there is still one answer that applies to i
anyone who is just starting their own
shop: "Hire a good accountant and a
good lawyer."
Now, I hope that this advice will not
be necessary in the future. I hope that
our tax code is, some day, simple
enough that nearly every business
owner in America no longer needs to
seek the help of an accountant when
doing their taxes. And I hope that
dome day our laws are fairer to small
business, our regulations less intru-
sive, our civil justice system more...just.
But for today, my advice stands.
Then; is still one problem with it,
thought, a problem I am well ware of.
Not every small-business owner can
afford an accountant and a lawyer.
And if they can afford to hire one, it's
probably going to be the accountant -
because the taxes have to be paid, they
have to be paid in full, and they have
to be paid on time. A business owner
can cross his fingers and hope and
pray he doesn't really need a lawyer.
An entrepreneur can tell herself that
she'll figure out those regulations on
her own, that if she treats her employ-
ees and customers right, she'll be in
compliance with the laws. Right? (He
and she hope.)
But the truth of the matter is that
government rules and regulations are
so lengthy, so complex, that people
who are busy running businesses do
not have the time or the training to
read them word-for-word, or to under-
stand and remember every last detail.
Many labor and environmental laws
and regulations are written with big
business in mind - and big businesses
employ lawyers, sometimes a whole
staff of lawyers - full-time to figure it
all out.
Congress recognized this inequity
in 1996 when they passed the Small
Business Regulatory Enforcement Act
(SBREFA). It opened the door for judi-
cial review of agency decisions that
affect small business. A great idea -
but so far no one has used it. No one
seems to have the t .me or the resources
to stop running their business and
spend six months and several hun-
dred thousand dollars in court. (Go
figure.)
Now before you give up hope, there
is some good news in all of this. Last
month, every small-business group
NFIB (National Federation of Inde-
pendent Business) launched the NFIB
Legal Foundation, dedicated to the
principles of justice and equity for small
business. The Foundation will protect
the rights of America's small-business
owners by providing information and
guidance on legal issues and by ensur-
ing that the yoice of small business is
heard in the nation's courts. It will use
SBREFA to challenge over-bqtdflri-.
tfOnv regulations. With tHfe help of an
Advisory Board of top legal, political
and regulatory experts, the Founda-
tion will target inequities in the Ameri-'
cans and Disabilities Act regulations,
Environmental Protection Agency
clean air rules, and Occupational
Safety and Health Administration re-
quirements and other government
regulations.
NFIB has worked for 57 years to
protect and promote small business ih
Washington, D C., our state capitols
and regulatory agencies. The final fron-
tier for this ongoing battle ig the cou rts.
Which means this is a good day in
America, a good day for small busi-
ness. And it brings me one step closer
to changing that one piece of advice
from "hire an accountant and a law-
yer" to a simple "good luck and have
fun."
Jack Faris is president of the Na-
tional Federation of Independent Busi-
ness (NFIB), the nation's largest small-
bufiiiwss advocacy group. For infor-
mation call 1-800 NFIB NOW or w's|<
www.nfdyonline.com.
TABCC news
By Bill Hammond
There is an old saying that goes some-
thing like this..."The time to fix the roofis
when the sun is shining."
Currently, the sun is shining brightly
on our great country. The United States is
enjoyingeconomic growth and prosperity
that is unparalleled in history. Much of
the economic boom is being fueled as it
always is by the entrepreneurial spirit
and drive of the small business owner. In
Texas, small business owners come in all
ware startups that grew out of garage
apartments in Austin to the transporta-
tion service providers sprouting Up apd
down our NAFTA corridors. All of them
have thrived and prospered creating
new wealth and new jobs despite an
intrusive and burdensome tax code.
sive and burdensome tax code.
While it is true that many public opin-
ion polls currently indicate that most
Americans put a tax cut pretty far down
on their list of priorities, we know that
nobody thinks about winter snowstorms
while lying on the beach in July. But, it
still does not change the fact that federal
taxes are the highest they have ever been
during peacetime. And, experience has
taught us that the public will be scream-
ing for tax relief oncethe economy takes a
turn south. Unfortunately, no economic
boom goes on forever. That's why it is so
disheartening to see so many shortsighted
elected officials who are more interested
in polls than in tackling our nation's puni-
tive tax code.
If there ever was a situation to which
that old roof saying applied, it is to the
com-bination of today's economic prosper-
ity and the unfair, convoluted tax code to
which we hang on. During the sunny days
of these prosperous times, we need to fix
the dilapidated roof of a tax code under
which we live. Small businesses are and
always have been the backbone of the
Texas economy. The current federal tax
code, with its high top marginal rate
(39.6'/.') and its mind-numbing complex-
ity, is a burden 011 the entrepreneurial
abilities of the small business owner.
It is time we cut tax rates and rewrite
the tax code to make it simpler and en-
couraging ofsmall business success. Here
are a some suggestions that all Texans
should forward up to Washington, D.C.
• First and foremost, we should reduce
the top marginal rate. Taking more.than
a third of someone's income in taxes is
more than bad public policy, it is down-
right robbery. This will raise the standard
of living, encourage personal savings and
business start-ups and create the capitol
necessary to create more good payingjobs.
• The death tax must be laid to rest
Besides that, it gives the government three
opportunities to tax the same money and
it impedes economic growth by seizing the
capitol needed to make small business
flourish.
• Cutting taxes is imperative, but that
is not all we must do. The tax code itself is
so complex that it is act ually 17,000 pages
in length and contains more than fi
million Words. And, it gets worse eveij
year. The tax bill of 1997 alone created
285 new sections of tax law. We must
replace the tax code with a simpler, fairer
plan that all taxpayers can understand.
Whatever thesolution, it must address
the fact that American taxpayers spent a
combined five billion hours completing
their IRS forms last year. That's criminal.
It's plso criminal for elected officials and
candidates to ignore the fact that the
economic prosperity of this country will
not last forever. The strong economy is
keeping taxpayers at bay for the moment,
but as soon as there is a downturn, con-
stituents will be knocking at every federal
door looking for answers and demanding
relief. It is the duty and responsibility of
our elected representatives to recognize
and correct inequities before they beconio
catastrophic. It's simply not good enough
to cite public opinion polls as the reason
for ignoring an oncoming train wreck.
Small business ownerj) are imploring
the federal government to do just that:
address this problem. Let's take advan-
tage of our country's current good fortune
by cutting taxes and making the process
of paying them easier. By putting more
money back into the pockets of the people
who earned it, we can not only do the right
thing, but also insure future prosperity.
Let's fix the roof.
round and about
By Sam Gillispie
When I think of motorcycle clubs, I
relate to the Hell's Angels and the rough
and rowdy people who first grouped up to
terrorize the neighborhood. But theclubs
have evolved into just groups that band
together to ride their motorcycles to see
the countryside.
Such a group was irr Albany Monday.
The Waco Harley Davidson group came
into town arid did a bit of sight-seeing
and had lunch at one of our restaurants.
That Was where I got to interview them.
There were 15 of all ages out on a camp-
ing trip through Texas They were on
their way to Cloudcroff, New Mexico,
then down to Fort Davis and Del Rio
before returning to Waco. The trip will
last a week and cover 2,200 miles.
The Newcombs and Thompsons went
to Roscoe to celebrate Easter with Deidra
and Wayne Thompson. I am happy to
report that little Caleb Doyle is doing
great and Patsy Jo Thompson brought
back word that Deidra's son, J.R. Sand-
ers, who is a senior at Roscoe, has won
fu st place at district and second place at
regional in news writing. He will ad-
vance to the state level at Austin on May
5. J R.'s father is Ronnie Sanders of Al-
bany and grandparents are Doris
Newcomb and Joe and Raye Sanders.
My Easter weekend finished up with
me attending a wedding on Monday
morning. My granddaughter, Mikki
Kinnard, married Clinton Mark Conner.
They are both 1999 graduates - Mikki
from here and Clint from Wall. She is
attending Hardin-Simmons and he is in
the Air Force stationed at Dyess:
Little Ann Younger had a setback and
had to reenter the hospital several days
ago. She was suffering from an infection
in one of her legs. She had improved
enough to return home last Friday. She
was feeling well enough Monday after-
noon to play with a nurses aide's baby.
Doug said she is happy and in good
spirits.
The fishing story of the week is about
Debbe and Johnnie Hudman's trip to the
Rain Forest in Brazil. They flew to Sao
Paulo, then caught a flight to a village on
the Rio Negro River. After a 50-mile boat
ride up that river - which, by the way, is
one of the main rivers emptying into the
Amazon - they landed at a lodge that is
only accessible by float plane or boat.
There they spent a week fishing and bird
watching. Debbe said you could see hun-
dreds of different kinds of birds. They ate
piranha - Johnnie said it tasted like
crapp'ie Debbe caught the largest fish of
the group, a 13-pound peacock bass. The
peacock bass is an exotic bass that is
found in South America and grows up to
be a big one. Congratulations, Debbe.
This is Sam
And I will see you Round and About
Community Calendar
APRIL 27
APRIL 28
APRIL 28-29
APRIL 29
APRIL 29-30
APRIL 30
MAY 1
MAY 2
MAY 4
MAY 6
MAY 7
Health Fair - Youth Center, 9 am-5 pm
Lions Club - Icehouse, 12 noon
Chamber luncheon - Icehouse, 12 noon
Regional track meet - Abilene Christian University
"Concentrations I: Ceramics" exhibit - Old Jail Art Center
Frontier Days reenactment - Fort Griffin State Park
Band concert - AHS auditorium, 2 p'm
Task Force meeting - First Christian Church, 12 noon
Choir concert - AHS auditorium, 7 pm
Academic Challenge taping - KTXS studio, 7 pm
Al-Anon - Friendship Baptist Church, 5:30 pm
GED class - NSES, 6*8 pm
Toastmasters - Courthouse, 6:30 pm
Academic Challenge broadcast - KTXS Channel 12,
6:30 pm
School board election • NSES lobby, 7 am-7 pm
Fandangle Membership Picnic & Sampler -
Prairi§ Theater, 6 pm
Reception for retiring teachers - Whitney Theater,
1:30-3 pm
FIRST
NATIONAL
BANK
Albany/Breckenridge
MEMsarnc
fi
mam
1 - * ' '' "
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Lucas, Donnie A. The Albany News (Albany, Tex.), Vol. 124, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 27, 2000, newspaper, April 27, 2000; Albany, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth413030/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Old Jail Art Center.