The Seminole Sentinel (Seminole, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 81, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 9, 1989 Page: 4 of 18
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PAGE 4, Seminole (Texas) Sentinel, Wednesday, August 9, 1989
Opinion
Hormone-free beef shipped,
Hightower still under fire
AUSTIN-The good news for
Agriculture Commissioner Jim
Hightower last week was that
Europe bought its first load of
Texas "hormone-free" beef.
The bad news for him was
that major Texas crop and stock
producers are continuing their
search for a candidate to oust him
in the 1990 elections.
No candidate of significant
name ID has surfaced yet, and
Hightower can count last week's
shipment of 40,000 pounds of
meat to England as a feather in his
hat.
If more shipments follow,
enough anger may be appeased to
get him out of the doghouse, at
least in some groups.
Whether he deserves it, or
whether the credit really goes
to the new Bush Administration,
Hightower, whom some call "The
P.T. Barnum of the Texas Demo-
cratic Party," will score points off
the sales, points he needs to ap-
pease a hostile Legislature.
Some Got Hot
Just a few months ago, High-
tower royally angered Texas cat-
tleraisers by appearing to side with
the European Economic Commu-
nity's ban of U.S. beef fattened by
hormones at stockyards.
The major groups, led by
the Texas Farm Bureau, thought
Hightower:
1) Undermined the feds' fight to
defend their $145 million annual
beef exports business,
2) Inaccurately portrayed the
Texas beef industry as fun or
hormones, and
3) Played to voters, via his usual
liberal pro-consumer tactics, at the
expense of the Texas beef industry.
Not All Mad
Not every beef producer got
mad.
Apparently most Texas beef is
raised without hormones, and if
that's what Europe wants, then
Texas can supply the product.
But leaders in many major farm
and ranch groups were angry
enough to unite and make the
STATE CAPITAL
HIGHLIGHTS
By Lyndell Williami
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
water plenty hot for Hightower
during the recent session.
Urban Cowboy
They wanted lawmakers to
abolish his office, or, short of that,
strip him from his agency.
They'll Jell you he is not a
farmer or rancher, but a radical
ex-journalist who bought a hat and
boots, and rode an urban cowboy
image into statewide office.
Few dispute the radical tag, but
his defenders point to his leg-
islative experience in Washington,
D.C., and his previous role as
consumer activist, adding that "if
you eat, you're involved in agri-
culture. "
Voice Of Reason
Hightower was probably saved
last session by a voice of rea-
son and experience, House Agri-
culture and Livestock Commit-
tee chairman Dudley Harrison, D-
Sandcrson.
Harrison's credentials are long,
wide, solid and tight. A conserva-
tive, he bears no particular love for
Hightower, but he does love Texas
agriculture, border to border.
Hammering a compromise, he
got the Legislature to pass new
requirements for future agriculture
commissioners.
The new rules do not bar
Hightower from re-election, but
Uiey do prevent someone who's
"all hat and no cattle" from ever
again being elected as agriculture
commissioner.
New Qualifications
Beginning in 1990, a viable
candidate must have:
• Engaged in the business of
agriculture for five of the 10 pre-
ceding years, which means rais-
ing crops or livestock, floricul-
ture, viticulture, horticulture or
aquaculmre, or the processing of
any of those products, or
• Worked for five years preced-
ing election for a state or federal
agency in a position directly re-
lated to agriculture, or
• Owned or operated for five
of die 10 preceding years a farm,
ranch or timber land qualifying for
agriculture use tax appraisal and
be participating in an ASCS farm
program.
The second qualification allows
Hightower to run again, but as
Harrison said, "He's served eight
years, he's deserved another shot
at voter approval."
Other Highlights
• New Texas Secretary of State
George Bayoud drew for places on
the November ballot for proposed
constitutional amendments, and
number one will be an increase in
salary for state legislators.
• But state Sen. Chet Edwards,
D-Duncanville, said voters won't
give lawmakers a pay raise unless
the Legislature first acts to curb
lavish spending by special-interest
lobbyists.
Edwards blasted lobbyists for
spending $1.86 million in the
140-day regular session to enter-
tain lawmakers with gifts, trips,
lunches, drinks and golfing.
• But state Rep. David Hud-
son, D-Tyler, author of the bill
to increase salaries from $7,200
to $23,000 a year, disagreed and
accused Edwards of seeking head-
lines for his race for lieutenant
governor.
• George W. Bush, owner of
the Texas Rangers baseball team
and the president's eldest son,
ended speculation he will run for
governor in 1990.
Bush, 43, said he was not a
candidate at this time, but had
learned to "never say never" in
politics, leaving the door open to
a future bid.
WHY
WOULO
/AUNTIE
HOW COME
YOU
AhJO
a
i
mm
^MM
Journalism, fuji make a pair
On August first, 1969, I went
into business for myself. I had
been thinking about it for
sometime, really. I was
influenced by my father, who had
a business of his own. I noticed
that he worked very hard..harder
than people who didn't have their
own businesses to run..but he was
extremely happy and never
complained. When problems
came up, he solved them. I
somehow knew that I would be in
the same situation one day and
would also love it.
One day I just got tired of
working for the other fellow.
During the previous nine years I
had five jobs, all of them
journalism. I enjoyed working for
all the bosses and tried to make
them a good hand. I remembered
my father telling me that the best
bosses had been good employees.
He told mc once that if the man I
worked for wanted mc to scrub
the floor with a toothbrush I
should do it and not complain.
bush?hU"dredsof
"Haled Tn"'SL?lad>'s Whir/,
ee re
. P">ud/y proclaim w "ght here>''
. 1 don t have to "evvsPaper.
popping anymore?" »"!he??r'"go
vhirlei
Per, sc
■ driv-
o. - or findi "Jf"ie best
She said aii l ® what J
•i waste gas and "evvspaPer. so
over "V""C *'v-
or , '""■""e forih
sa'd all her rZ i! 1 need"
ihT'andcon«deS " did ,he
^st shopping ma/J^ newspaPer
Newspaper AdveSl n '°Wn The
f«es mosj pconl? gBureauindi-
**rlee, c£S£2? Mrs
^ppers find if 8 out of ,0
ompare
comment '' 'a,er heard to ^ ^OUtld I Cniilri
;OU,d„''^ IVhe ? time ^ ^
1 can'< ^gin Z8et ,he ** ' 'and even more
where else." /Tpp,n8 any- fTlOfleV hi/ ^ - G
£ata Service f°nsu"*r D* ^klHg niV
MaSZT"**!■»
•;7T
—
Woipan confesses^
*°uid rather
S P Cose to ho
ne with
Tfrt-i
toe Whirl,
with
the
S&^paper."
^ almost 60% nf i? a ^veafed wu- ■
*hcre to shonf shoPPers decide . h,r,Ce « employed h o,—
Prices.
8to do, " Whir-
my bost
s wealthy. ■
Whiriee replied ••aCT*' M
does is read
•"creases. Mr
Mis.
The Seminole
^Sentinel
(USPSMMOtl
SEMINOUE (GAINES COUNTVITEXA1
TtX Texas Press Association
M
Tumbleweed Smith
The closcst I came to doing that
was while I was in the Army.
And although the brush I used
was larger than a toothbrush, I
did not complain.
The work I chose to do on my
own was reporting on people who
love life and have a sparkle in
their eyes. I had grown weary of
news work. 1 wanted a larger
palette and had a desire to cover a
broader spcctrum of humanity.
I made journalism my life's
work because of a patriotic streak
within mc. Eisenhower was
President of the U.S. when I
graduated from Baylor in 1957
with a degree in English. He
spoke at my graduation. I joined
the Army that same year and
went to Europe in 1958 for two
years. A couple of times our unit
was contacted personally by
Eisenhower. He praised us for
some work we did.
That time away from home
and family was valuable bccause
I learned what things really
meant the most to mc: home and
family. I recall driving along die
Spanish Costa Brava one
midnight and hearing the star
spangled banner sign off Armed
Forces Radio. I stopped the car,
got out and stood at attention. I
learned a lot about my country by
being away from it during some
very impressionable years.
I remember coming to New
York harbor and listening to
radio along with a few thousand
other enlisted men. The first
comnicrcial we heard actually
brought a cheer from die crowd.
The commercial we heard
actually represented America. I
kissed the pavement as soon as I
could after leaving the ship. I was
glad to be home. I decidcd then
and there to do the most
American thing I could think of:
news and/or advertising.
I went home to Fort Worth for
awhile, then ventured down to
Waco and got a job at a small
advertising agency. Then I
headed west for a radio job. Next
I went to Houston to work in TV.
I realized I was in a field I loved,
but didn't really have any
education in it. So I went back to
school and ended up with a
master's ..degree in journalism
from die University of Missouri. I
got a job at a large radio-TV
station in the midwest. While
there, I did freelance feature work
for NBC radio. .
I missed Texas, so I came back
home and got a job in radio news.
In less dian two years, I dccided
to go it on my own. I travelled to
radio stations all over Texas and
tried to convince the owners and
managers that I could do feature
reports for diem..one per day..
that people would listen to and
would increase the audience and
make lots of money for the
station. Thank goodness about a
hundred stations decided to take a
chance on me. Most of the
stations have stayed with me,
even though they faced tough
times financially.
For the last couple of years I
have been writing this newspaper
column. It gives me much
satisfaction. I've learned that
people do like to read.
The Seminole Sentinel
P. O. Drawer 1200 (USPS 489-400) Ph. 915-758-3667
Oldest Established Business in Gaines County
Published each Wednesday and Sunday at The Seminole Sentinel Build-
ing, 406 S. Main, under the act of March 3,1879.
Entered as Second Class Matter at the Seminole, Texas, Post Office,
Seminole, Texas 79360.
M. GENE DOW
Publisher
David Fisher News Editor
Shayne Sanders . News/Sports Writer
Robbie Blount Advertising Manager
Barbra Ragsdale Classified & Circulation
Vickie Taylor Composition
Patricia Lee Office Supplies & Radio Shack
Gene Gaines Photo and Distribution
Paula Kubicek Bookkeeping
In County by Mail or Home Delivery in Seminole $18.50
In Texas by Mail $23.00
Out of Texas by Mall $25.50
Any erroneous reflection upon the character of any person or llrm
appearing In these columns will be gladly and promptly corrected upon
being brought to the attention of the management.
Letters policy: Letters to the Editor are welcomed. All letters should be
kept as brief as possible. They must be signed with name, address and
telephone number, In case need for verification arises. The Sentinel
reserves the right to edit letters to prevent slander and untasteful
language without changing the desired context. If requested publication
of the name may be withheld if the situation is warranted at discretion of
the Publisher.
Q
MEMBER
ASSOCIATION
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Fisher, David. The Seminole Sentinel (Seminole, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 81, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 9, 1989, newspaper, August 9, 1989; Seminole, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth417523/m1/4/?q=%22Places+-+United+States+-+Texas+-+Gaines+County%22: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Gaines County Library.