The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 108, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 2, 1998 Page: 4 of 36
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Hemphill County Library.
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THURSDAY 2 IULY 1998
7<fe <jWt<fctxRECORD
letters
to the editors
Championship ‘not
appropriately reported’
IN THE PAST we have always appreciated the space you have given
to those students of the Canadian Schools who excel. We also appreciate
your willingness to call attention to the fact that we have a great school
with terrifc students and staff who are able to compete with any AA
School in the state.
In the recent issue of The Canadian Record, June 25, 1998, the
significance of the achievement of the Band Solo and Ensemble Medal-
ists that won the State Championship was not appropriately reported.
The lack of a front page headline and the article being placed on page
fourteen indicates a lack of understanding of that significance.
The title State Solo Ensemble-State Sweepstakes and the letters
from UIL offices did somewhat obscure the fact that this is a State
Championship. This sweepstakes award is separate and different from
the Marching-Concert-Sightreading Sweepstakes, where the entire
band competes and there is no point system for a single winner to be
named. This achievement is not unlike that of the 1997 girls track team
who competed in individual and group events to earn team points with
the overall highest point total being named the State Champion. The
trophy earned by these musicians is exactly the same as other state
championships.
These thirteen students who medaled at State UIL Contest need to
be recognized as State Champions simply because they are.
FRED PANKRATZ, Band Director
JENNIFER WILLISON, Band Director
EDITOR’S NOTE: Having been a devoted musician and a stale medalist
myself, I fully understand the significance of these musicians'
accomplishments. We are sorry that their directors felt the photos and stories
which chronicled their accomplishments—both when they attended the
State Solo and Ensemble Contest, and when they learned that their accrued
honors had earned the State Championship trophy—were inappropriate. I
am also sorry that they apparently believe they know enough about the
newspaper business to make such a judgment...because they do not. The
decision to feature the dangerous drought conditions confronting Hemphill
County residents and their neighbors on last week's front page was mine.
The decision to place the story about our fine musicians on Page 14 along
with the rest of the school news was also mine. I take full responsibility for
both decisions, and offer no apologies for either. My congratulations to these
students who have so consistently demonstrated their musical talents, and
to their directors, whose teaching skills have earned our frequent praise and
recognition as well. As admirable as those skills are, however, neither I nor
my co-editor are willing to relinquish the responsibility we have for editing
this newspaper or for reporting the news as we deem ‘appropriate. ’ —LEB
Letters to the Editor policy
Letters to the Editors of the Canadian Record are always
welcome, and will always be published if they are signed and
cannot be considered libelous. The signature of the letter writer
may be withheld upon request if the editors feel there is compel-
ling reason to do so, but under no circumstances unll an anony-
mous letter be published.
We ask that all letters be accompanied by a home or work
phone number not for publication, but so that wre can verify the
letter writer’s identity if necessary. Letters may be edited for
excessive length.
Each letter should be clearly marked “Letter to the Editor,”
and should be received in our office no later than Wednesday noon
for publication in that week’s newspaper. Please mail letters to
The Canadian Record, P.O. Box 898, Canadian, TX 79014, or by
fax to (806)823-5738, or by e-mail to: lrbrown@well.com
We encourage our readers to use this public forum to express
their own opinions and to address issues w’hich are of concern m
them or to the community at large.
There is no charge for priming Letters to the
Editor in this newspaper.
opinion
page
Stars and Stripes no more?
By Jean Hay in the Progressive Populist
I’M GOING TO MISS the Stars and Stripes. I’m
■ going to miss all those red, white and blue ties,
shirts, hats, beach tow’els and bikinis that now liven
up parades, political rallies, backyards and beaches.
Because, if we pass this flag-burning amendment
to the Constitution, that stuff will disappear. After
all, how many people do you know who will risk jail
over an exuberant display of our nation’s symbol?
There is a way around this - a Bureau of Apparel
and Fashion to dictate the placement of stars and
stripes on clothing. Official government dress codes
would tell us whether flags or portions thereof are
legal, say, if sewn onto a sleeve or displayed above
the nipples, but illegal if attached to anything below
the waist, or what we should do with toddlers caught
with stars and stripes on their diaper pants.
N ot clear yet is what to do with illegal clothing w-e
already own. Will mere possession be a crime, like
drug paraphernalia, or would w’e have to actually
wear the clothes to be picked up for desecration?
Does this despicable act have to be done in public for
us to be found guilty? What if w'e wear a tattered,
paint-splattered, but favorite red, white and blue
sweatshirt to clean out the garage?
Don’t laugh. We’ve actually been down this road
before. Yippies founder Abbie Hoffman wras arrested
and went to trial in the 1960s for wearing a spiffy red,
w’hite and blue shirt much like one I saw on a golf pro
the other day on CNN Sports. Hoffman beat the rap
only because the prosecution could not prove that the
shirt had started its life as a flag. Honest, this was a
real case, with real prosecutors, taking up real court
time, with the threat of a real prison sentence. You
would think our courts and prisons weren’t over-
crowded enough.
What’s confusing to me is why this is even an
issue. Police already have the authority to arrest
people for burning or doing nasty things to American
flags the lowlifes don’t themselves own.
The only difference I see is that this amendment
would extend criminality to what someone does to his
owti flag, or close rendition thereof. That being the
case, why are the property rights people not up in
arms over this? After all, they demanded, and got,
the legal right to bum any wooden cross they happen
to owm, provided they do it on their own property or
on public property (with the appropriate burning
permits, or course - w’hich are hard to get these days,
with pollution limits and all). Why wouldn’t the same
principles apply here?
(The only part of cross-burning that is still illegal
is taking your privately owned wooden cross and
burning it on someone else’s property without their
permission. It’s illegal to scare the begeebers out of
someone, in what could be construed as a threat on
their lives or safety over the minor issue of whether.
or not you think they have the right to exist, let alone
in your neighborhood.)
Speaking of crosses, I am surprised that the re-
ligious right is not outraged at this either. After all,
a flag-desecration amendment to our Constitution,
making it an official federal offense to show’ irrever-
ence to our nation’s symbol, is a clear violation of the
First Commandment.
You recall the First Commandment. That’s the
one that talks about false gods, and worshipping
graven images. Remember the Golden Calf that got
Moses so mad he broke all 10 Commandments at the
same time? Same deal here. I’ve been expecting the
religious right to raise this point for years. They’ve
let me dowm yet again.
Another problem. Since the current Flag Code ,
designates burning as the proper way to dispose of 0
flags that are tom, tatered, faded, or w’orn out, would
this amendment force us to throw the whole Boy
Scout troop in jail for respectfully burning a pile of
faded cemetery flags?
Of course not, you say. Boy Scouts think beautiful
thoughts while the light from the flames dance on
their eager young faces. In contrast, the faces and
minds of the protesters are filled with hate and anger
over what they perceive their government has done
to violate the freedom, democracy, and justice that
the flag represents. It is for those thoughts and that
anger that they must be punished, you say.
Okay then, the political perspectives of the flam-
ing idiots are the real issue here. So, after Congress
establishes the Board of Apparel and Fashion (BAF),
it should immediately turn around and name an Of-
ficial Board of Thought Police. The OBTP would be
charged with re-writing the Flag Code, explaining
just w’hat w’e can and cannot legally think about the
American flag and the government it represents,
while we are in the process of either flaunting or
burning it.
Except, gee, Thought Police. Sounds more than a
litte un-American to me....Look! Over there! What is
that, rising from the ashes of that burned flag?
By God, it’s the ghost of Sen. Joe McCarthy!
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Ezzell, Nancy & Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 108, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 2, 1998, newspaper, July 2, 1998; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth520570/m1/4/?q=%22Places+-+United+States+-+Texas+-+Hemphill+County%22: accessed June 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.