The Nocona News (Nocona, Tex.), Vol. 108, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 15, 2012 Page: 2 of 10
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Page 2, Thursday, November 15, 2012, The Nocona News
Field treatment . . .
Tracks en tracings ♦ .
H
''a m T'&mh&mi
- v - ^ ■
~ Photo by Tracy Mesler
Paramedics and firemen attend to another victim of the Prairie Valley curve Thursday
night when her pickup failed to negotiate the hard right hand curve on FM 103 north
of the school. She was taken to Nocona General Hospital for treatment.
Sound Off, Readers!
"Accountability"
Sportsmanship - A per-
son characterized by his
ability to get along with oth-
ers. Fair play, the ability to
win or lose graciously.
While playing a junior
high football on Oct. 25,
2012, a boy, whose passion
is football, had that all taken
away. Due to injuries
caused by BAD sportsman-
ship he will never again be
able to play football.
The question is, who
should be held accountable?
The boy, who caused life-
long injuries because of
poor sportsmanship or the
coaches who teach winning
at any cost?
For one young boy, his
life will never be the same.
He has questions that can
never be answered. As a
parent, whose child is hurt-
ing physically and emotion-
ally, how do you tell him to
be forgiving when no one
has asked for forgiveness or
even acknowledged a wrong
was done.
Kelli Wadsworth
Holliday, Texas
Dear Tracy Mesler
After reading this week's
edition of the Nocona News,
I felt that I needed to write a
letter to clarify and inform
the people about what all
happened concerning the
Constable's race between
my brother Scott Parker and
Stefanie Horton.
First of all let me make
one thing perfectly clear,
my sister-in-law, Gina
Parker's upset reaction to
the final numbers was not
directed at Stefanie Horton,
they were directed at Kelly
McNabb, who along with
Sheriff Paul Cunningham,
convince Mrs. Horton to run
against my brother Scott
Parker, knowing that her
chances of winning would
be very good because of the
straight ticket voting. Not to
mention that it took her
doing so after three dead-
lines and two extensions by
the state on the last to file.
And as far as Kelly
McNabb stepping in
between them, he has never
had the courage to step in
between anyone in all the
years that he has "served"
as a reserve for the sheriffs
office. Scott pulled his upset
wife away.
And Mr. Editor, I feel
that you have some respon-
sibility in this as well.
Whether it is a simple fact
that you refuse to proofread
any of your work, or
whether you intentionally
tiy to put incorrect informa-
tion in your paper, I am not
sure. But the fact that you
put that Scott was a
"Republican incumbent" in
your main news story just
one week prior to the elec-
tion is suspect. Did that con-
fuse people to vote straight
ticket who may have wanted
to vote for Scott? I guess we
will never know.
Of course that is not the
only misinformation you
have printed during this
election. Earlier you printed
in your Tracks and Tracings
article, that my grandfather,
former commissioner Gene
Parker, was dead. Well he is
always and well and proba-
bly still answering phone
calls from people who read
your article. Scott said he
sent you a message asking
you to clarify this, but you
evidently refused to do so as
it never was put in print.
Scott worked very hard
as Constable, and had a
strong desire to make that
position a better one for the
people of Montague County.
He could have switched par-
ties, as so many had done
just to go along with the
trend, but he has conviction
and morals and stood
behind his beliefs. Unlike
McNabb who supported our
democratic sheriff for years,
but switched to the
Republican Party just to get
in with Cunningham. And
you county judge, who was
a long-time Democratic
commissioner, but switched
to Republican just to take
over the seat of the late Ted
Winn.
I want to let Mrs. Horton
know that I, as well as my
family, have no ill feelings
towards her and wish her
the best of luck and pray for
her safety. Because contrary
to what Commissioner Bob
Langford told Scott when he
was taking to him about his
budget, the position of
Constable can be very dan-
gerous. We are just sickened
by the way that our
"Emergency Management
Coordinator" and "Sheriff'
have used the system to get
Scott out of his position that
he loved so much.
If this gets printed I want
everyone to know that I did
use spell check, so any mis-
spellings or errors will be
done by our lovely editor, as
usual.
Shelly Parker
The endangered specie
By Tracy R. Mesler
Call it official. If you
want to run for county
office in Montague County,
regardless of your political
upbringing, regardless of
your political philosophy,
like it or not, if you want to
get elected in this county
you are going to have to run
as a Republican
In each of the last four
general elections, a
Republican candidate for
local office has defeated
their Democratic opponent
thanks to massive leads in
straight ticket voting. In
each case the Democratic
candidate won the vote
amongst those who did not
vote straight ticket.
Straight party or straight
ticket voting is when a voter
marks the box to vote for
every candidate from a par-
ticular party - be they
Republican, Democratic,
Libertarian or Green.
Voters can then scroll
down on the electronic vot-
ing machines and vote for a
candidate from another
party, but few are aware of
that ability, or go to the time
and effort to do so.
Since 2006, three
Democratic incumbent
county officer holders have
been turned out of office by
their Republican opponents.
In each case the Republican
held a sizeable advantage in
straight party voting -
enough to overcome the
incumbent's lead amongst
split-ticket voters.
In 2006, Republican
challenger Linda
McGaughey defeated
incumbent County Treasurer
Patty Fenoglio 2,727 to
2,506 thanks to a 1,021 to
691 advantage in straight
party voting. Mrs. Fenoglio
had out-polled Mrs.
McGaughey amongst split-
ticket voters 1,815 to 1,706.
Two years later,
Republican challenger Ron
Walker ousted incumbent
County Attorney Jeb
McNew 4,148 to 3,567
despite McNew's 2,747 to
1,869 advantage amongst
split-ticket voters.
That same year
Democratic candidate Scott
Parker became the only can-
didate from his party to
defeat a Republican chal-
lenger as he out-polled
Republican Lance Provost
1,645 to 1,387. Parker man-
aged a victory thanks to a
1,341 to 565 advantage in
split-ticket votes - enough
to overcome Provost's 518
vote lead amongst straight
party voters.
In 2010 long time county
commissioner Tommie
Sappington switched to the
Republican Party and held
off the challenge of former
county clerk and
Democratic Party candidate
Lynn Gray 3,361 to 1,905.
Although Gray won the
split-ticket vote 1,503 to
1,483, he was unable to
overcome Sappington's
1,476 vote lead amongst
party faithful.
Finally, last week
Republican challenger
Stefanie Horton, fresh out of
police academy, took down
JLnnuaC
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etfie Nocona Senior Center
400 (Boston St
Thursday, NovemSer IS*
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Parker, the Democratic
incumbent and 15-year law
enforcement veteran, 1,525
to 1,368 thanks in large part
to a 900 vote lead amongst
straight party voters.
Parker actually ham-
mered Mrs. Horton almost 3
to 1 (1,117 to 374) among
split-ticket voters. But it
was not enough to withstand
the growing trend amongst
county voters to vote
Republican 'red' rather than
Democratic 'blue,' and to
do so by marking just one
box at the top of the
machine and walking away.
There remains only three
other Democratic 'local'
officeholders - 97th District
Court Judge Roger Towery
who is retiring and has not
been challenged in a general
election since being voted
into office; County Clerk
Glenda Henson of Nocona
and County Tax Assessor-
Collector Sydney Nowell,
also of Nocona.
All of the rest of the
elected county and district
officials, including our state
representative-elect and
incumbent state senator, are
Republicans.
Neither Mrs. Nowell nor
Mrs. Henson would com-
ment on the trend amongst
county voters other than to
state, "Oh, we're aware of
it. We're well aware of it!"
Both of those officehold-
ers - come January 1 the
last two Democratic office-
holders in Montague County
- will come up for re-elec-
tion in 2014 along with both
justices of the peace, the
precinct two and four coun-
ty commissioners, county
judge and district clerk.
You can
subscribe
onl tie at
www.noconanews.net
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Spelling test is tomorrow.
Lost her homework folder.
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J^ocona
USPS Publication No. 391-160
Established June 6,1906
Editors & Publishers
Tracy & Linda Mesler
P.O. Box 539
115 Cooke St.
Nocona, Texas 76255-0539
(940) 825-3201 fax (940) 825-3202
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Mesler, Tracy R. & Mesler, Linda L. The Nocona News (Nocona, Tex.), Vol. 108, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 15, 2012, newspaper, November 15, 2012; Nocona, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth439453/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Friends of the Nocona Public Library.