Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 35, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 28, 2008 Page: 3 of 25
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J SHOULD
BE HIS ,
ymns?
Murray W. Judson
Publisher
Mary Henkel Judson
Editor & Co-Publisher
Phone (361) 749-5131 E-mail: southjetty@centurytel.net
Port Aransas South Jetty
Opinion
Member:
South Texas Press Association
Texas Gulf Coast Press Association
Texas Press Association
National Newspaper Association
Thursday, August 28, 2008 3A
iiis i 111 i
Can Obama
turn red blue?
KALISPELL, Montana
- Here on the western edge
of Glacier National Park,
Montanans are both ex-
cited and a bit surprised that
Democratic presidential
hopeful Barack Obama
has been to this state half
a dozen times in his cam-
paign - including while the
Democratic convention is
going on in Denver.
Montana has just three electoral votes, and
a history of voting Republican in presidential
elections for decades. Republicans have won
the presidential vote in all but two of the elec-
tions since 1952. It last gave a Democrat a
plurality in 1992, to Bill Clinton, when inde-
pendent Ross Perot drew off 26 percent of the
vote from then-President George Bush, and a
majority in 1964, when Lyndon Johnson won
a landslide in the wake of John Kennedy’s as-
sassination.
Montana voters gave Republican George
W. Bush 58 percent in 2000 and 59 percent
in 2004.
But despite having an African-American
population of just three-tenths of one percent,
Montana Democrats supported Obama strongly
over Hillary Clinton in the primary June 3.
The Obama campaign is hoping the Montana
appearances can help underline the popularity
he demonstrated in another state where blacks
are sparse - Iowa - in that state’s early caucuses
in January.
Democrats here say Montana can really be a
swing state - if the stars line up right. And in
Obama’s face-off with Republican John Mc-
Cain, they just might.
Montana, known for its populists of the left
and right, is a state where the governor and one
of the senators were Republican as recently as
four years ago. But in 2004, it elected Democrat
Brian Schweitzer as governor. And in 2006, it
replaced Republican Conrad Bums and sent
Democrat Jon Tester to join five-term Demo-
crat Max Baucus in the Senate. The popular
Baucus is up this year for election to his sixth
six-year term.
(At the same time, the state’s lone member
of the U.S. House, former Republican Lt. Gov.
Denny Rehberg, is expected to win re-election.
The state’s house and senate are almost evenly
divided between the parties.)
Another reason Obama can afford to spend
valuable campaign time in this sparsely
populated state is that the press follows the
presidential candidates everywhere these days.
Obama’s Montana forays may help show voters
in other western states, like Colorado, Nevada
and Alaska, that he cares about competing in
states that have been considered virtual locks
for Republican presidential campaigns.
Democrats in Texas wish the same logic
had been applied to their state as the Obama
campaign is giving to the mountain west,
because it might help fire up some races down
tl^e ballot.
But Obama and running mate Joe Biden
will find out in November whether the western
strategy was correct.
# # #
• Hillary for Veep?____McCain has been run-
ning TV ads ragging Obama for not choosing
Hillary Clinton as his running mate. There’s
eyen one ad with a young woman describing
herself as a Hillary Democrat - who says now
she’s going to vote for McCain.
*Late-night TV comedian Jay Leno on
Monday asked McCain perhaps the obvious
question: If you think it’s important for Hillary
Clinton to be a vice-presidential nominee, why
dbn’t you pick her?
;The straight-talk senator fell away from
that one like a batter with a high hard fastball
coming straight at his head. McCain said a few
njce things about Clinton, and then verbally
wandered off into how bad the public regards
the congress.
I Contact McNeely at dmcnedy@austin.
rtcom or 512/458-2963.
South Jetty
(946-020) .
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Port Aransas, Texas
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■hBIS
They don’t make newsmen like that anymore
He’s a walking encyclopedia and, even
though he’s past the traditional retirement
age (not by much), he’s a technocrat.
He’s the “go-to” guy in the office when a
computer (or its operator) malfunctions.
He can take volumes of information - of-
ten quite complicated - and distill and sum-
marize it so the Average Joe “gets it.”
One look can drill holes through you,
then the twinkle in the eye and the broad
grin return to leave you giggling like a
kid.
Can’t remember the words to a song, its
title, the artist? He knows.
Wonder who wrote a book, the year a
certain governor held office? He knows.
He has experience in radio and TV jour-
nalism all across Texas
and in Arizona as well.
He has written, shot
(photos, that is), and
talked for a living for
more than 40 years.
He’s seen mayors,
commissioners, judges,
state representatives,
Progress, he leaves big shoes to fill here.
These days, a good newsman (or woman)
is hard to find. .
They don’t make ’em like that anymore:
Solid newsmen who live and breathe their
craft and do it well.
“He” is reporter Phil Reynolds (aka
senators and governors
come and go. He’s written them in and
written them out - and there’s probably a
book in him somewhere.
He’s had a helluva career, and as. he
begins a slow retreat by switching to part publisher of the South Jetty. Contact her at
time at the South Jetty while lending a (361)749-5131 or southjetty@centurytel.
hand to our friends at the Aransas Pass net.
The difference
is the people
When we talk about
the benefits of traveling
- broadening our horizons,
we say - most of us tend to
think about sights seen and
sites visited.
Yes, such experiences
are important and not to be
undervalued, but personal
interaction is what develops
into lifelong currency, the things with which
we change our perspective and maybe change
our opinions.
Monday, for the first time since I returned
from my four-month stay in Antarctica 18
months ago, I met up with someone I got to
know on the Ice.
Etosha was one of my dearest friends there.
We actually met on the way down when several
Ice-bound folks managed to get together for
dinner at an Indian restaurant in New Zealand,
where we were held up a couple of days by
bad weather.
We seemed to hit it off right away, though I
cannot say why. The only thing we seemed to
have in common was being from Texas.
Etosha was from the Houston area, a big-
city girl who went to a highly competitive
engineering college on the East Coast. I was a
country boy who had sampled freely from the
state college system.
More obvious differences, though, were that
she was about 22 years old and black, while I
was a newly crowned grandfather and white.
Those differences aside, we often found our-
selves sharing a table in the galley at mealtime
and always had a lot to talk about. Maybe the
neatest thing was having no need to explain
why we hit it off; strange friendships were a
hallmark of spending a season living in the
enclave that is McMurdo Station.
And therein lies my story.
Etosha was recently visiting her family in
Houston before beginning fall classes while
working on her master’s degree and she drove
up to join me for lunch, where we spent a
Professor Gadget), and the South Jetty
and Port Aransas have been fortunate to
be on the receiving end of his talent and couple of hours talking about what’s happened
dedication. since we last visited and reflecting back on our
Thanks Phil time in Antarctica.
It's been a good-fite* may be surprising is that the physical
Mary Henkel Judson is, editor and ffi-
Good job
I want to commend the South Jetty on its new
look. Fabulous!
This community newspaper has always done
a super job of informing the public about what
is going on and what went on while constantly
striving to be newer, better and in my opinion,
the best!
The South Jetty reports with a flair, and the
layout entices readers to find out more.
As an island resident involved in many orga-
nizations, I can say for a fact that this paper is a
huge reason for the success of island events, and
I thank all the staff who work so hard.
Great job! Keep it up!
Pam Greene
[Editor’s note: In the interest of full disclo-
sure, Greene worked for the South Jetty for
about 20 years, and only recently went to work
for the city’s Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment.]
Resign or recall
I have lived in Port Aransas for over 32 years
and have witnessed a lot of mayors come and
go. Some represented the city in a professional
manner and some have not.
Mayor Claude Brown has me concerned
about some of the things he is trying to do.
One of the first things he tried to do was have
the city building inspector terminated. Brown
next put down the police department with all
sorts of allegations. Some of the allegations
and complaints against the police department
may be coming from Brown going around town
recmiting and chorusing Port Aransas citizens
to file allegations against police officers and the
police department.
Next Police Chief Sam Russell resigned be-
cause of all the political garbage from Brown.
With Brown out of control, it is going to be dif-
ficult to find a new police chief in this political
environment.
Brown would also like to go after bark-
ing dogs and restrict parking on streets of his
choosing.
The mayor next makes a proposal to build
a concrete slab in the haul out area of the city
marina. The slab started out at 50 feet by 30 feet,
but that would not fit the mayor’s needs, so he
made the request for the slab to be 50 feet by
50 feet at a cost of $70,000. Maybe the mayor
would like to leave his crane on the slab that is
city property for his monetary gains. The city
should ask Brown for proof of liability insurance
on his equipment. What happens if someone gets
hurt or personal property gets destroyed?
The city also paid about $780 for a bulletproof
vest for the mayor. I guess it must be getting
dangerous at city hall.
Just recently the mayor requested a larger
lens for the city camera. What for? Would it be
to take pictures of city employees at work from
long distance? Now the mayor refuses to do his
job and work with the city council on up-com-
ing projects.
It might be best for Port Aransas if Brown
resigns as mayor or maybe a recall may be in
order. It only takes 20 percent of the voters who
voted in the election for a recall.
Don Murphy
Port Aransas
[Editor’s note: The slab at the marina was
originally scheduled to be 50-by-50 feet but
was scaled back to 50-by-30feet as an economy
move. Brown pointed out to the council that
a 50-by-30-foot slab did not provide enough
working space for a crane. The body armor
Brown requested for police “ride-alongs” dur-
ing Spring Break cost $749.98, according to
police department records. He is not on record
as having used the vest during Spring Break
2008. The camera he uses was issued to him
as mayor instead of the laptop computer that
other council members received. He uses it to
photograph points he wants to illustrate to other
council members.]
experiences of staying on the ice continent were
not that noteworthy. No, we kept talking about
other people.
While the two of us worked with different
groups and hung out with mostly different
people, there has to be a lot of overlapping in
a community of only a few hundred support
personnel who live so closely.
She was telling about one guy whose name
she misremembered. Are you talking about
Mike - lot of hair and friendly with everyone?
Yeah, and he was dating... what was her name?
I know who you’re talking about; she worked
in the chalet. Yeah, that’s the one.
We talked about another mutual friend who
was severely injured in an accident and flown
to New Zealand for treatment, but we got little
information after he left. I had to tell her that
I’ve heard through the grapevine that David
has not yet recovered very well.
The likelihood of me working another season
in Antarctica is incredibly slim, but my short
stay there has carved a permanent niche in
my life.
While memory serves, I will continue to tell
of building a campsite in blizzard conditions
with a wind chill of 50 below zero, of never be-
ing able to catch my breath during a three-day
visit to the two-mile-high South Pole and of the
marvelous people I got to know there.
However, they must share space with a re-
tired oil field worker in White Oak, a former
teacher in Bryan, an old football coach in Br-
enham, a rice farmer in Bay City, a shrimper in
Rockport, an insurance saleswoman in Canyon
Lake, a minister in Whitewright, a handyman
in Port Aransas, a shuttle driver in Bali and a
part-time fruit stand worker in Australia.
Each one is special and each one had some
influence on me or how I look at the world.
And I am better for them.
Steve Martaindale is a self-syndicated colum-
nist. Write him at penmanmail-steve@yahoo.
com.
Letters to the Editor
Deadline
Monday, 10 A.M.
Letters to the editor should be limited
to about 300 words • contain a valid
signature and mailing address, day
and evening telephone numbers where
the writer may be reached • names of
persons writing letters will not be withheld
from publication • unsigned letters will not
be published -only one letter per person
per 30 days period • letters endorsing or
opposing political candidates are political
advertising and should be taken to the
advertising department • all letters are
subject to editing • letters of complaint
about private businesses will be forwarded
to the business and will not be published
• “thank you” letters are classified adver-
tising and should go to the classified ad
department
Letters may be mailed to
P.O. Box 1117 Port Aransas, TX 78373
or e-mailed to:
southjetty@centurytel.net
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Judson, Mary Henkel. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 35, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 28, 2008, newspaper, August 28, 2008; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth496611/m1/3/?q=architectural+drawings: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.