Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 18, 1983 Page: 2 of 20
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Editorial
Page 2A, Thursday, August 18, 1983, South Jetty
^ Tidemarks
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THERE IS
within me a greater measure of
idealism than I may sometimes care
to admit. I don’t like, I am horrified,
for example, by the realization that
there are people in this country who
purely and simply don’t have
anything, or enough to eat. Of the
truth of this I have been convinced.
Hence I am disappointed in the
appointment by the President of a
committee which will spend some 90
days exploring whether there are
people who really are hungry or not.
Good heavens, a hungry person can
starve in less than 90 days. Yet there
still remains another side to the coin,
the graft and racketeering that has
taken place in the various welfare
programs. People of this ilk are twice
guilty. They commit a crime against
the government, but worse by far
they cause the deserving to suffer.
THE PRESIDENT IS IN BROAD
principle right in suggesting that
people in the thousands of communi-
ties across the land should take care
of their own, but it is important to
realize there are places where this is
impossible. The circumstance almost
exactly parallels that of school
districts along our southern border
which ask for federal aid because
they are compelled by law to educate
aliens, aliens who are invariably,
poor. But the parallel of course
comes to a screeching halt. Compel-
ling American citizens to paf for the
education of aliens is gross injustice.
Gross injustice as well that there are
Americans without enough to eat,
but that is an American problem to
be met and dealt with by the people
of this nation.
NEWS OF A COUPLE OF THOU-
sand New York State women
protesting nuclear weapons at a
military base hit just at the wrong
time. I was well on my way into
“Corrigidor, the End of the Line,”
by the British historian Eric Morris.
Because it happened more than four
decades ago I feel it necessary to
perhaps remind at least some reades
that Corrigidor is in Manila Bay and
a U.S. island fortress attacked by the
Japanese at the same time Pearl
Harbor was devastated. It has taken
me a couple of days to cool off
enough to write.
Corrigidor, the Bataan Peninsula,
and for that matter all of the
Philippines were defended by our
army and navy. Defended? Corrigi-
dor was boasted to be an impreg-
nable fortress. Instead, there as
elsewhere it was undermanned by
mostly young and inexperienced
soldiers, often with the most rudi-
mentary training. More, on the
island there were big guns of 1890
vintage. For weapons troops were
forced to use World War I rifles,
machine guns, grenades. For nearly
six months thousands of Americans
died in the Philippines, at much
from starvation and sickness as from
enemy bullets. In the end they were
obliged to surrender and those who
survived the infamous Batar.n Death
March died later in the torturous and
ghastly Japanese prison camps - or
survived.
Were I to be given the power and
authority, I should muster all of
those protesting New York women in
an auditorium and one by one I
should compel them to read aloud to
each other from the beginning to end
Morris' “Corrigidor.” There are,
needless to write, other books that
tell equally as well the story of a
nation that did not believe in being
prepared.
PRIOR TO WORLD WAR I OURS
was a growing, prosperous confident
nation convinced of its own destiny.
Willingly, determinedly we adherred
to Washington’s admonition to “ever
avoid entangling foreign alliances.’’
Sound advice in the 18th century, but
the world changed. The politicians
who sought the impossible, to keep
us out of World War I can in some
large measure be forgiven, wrong as
they were. Not so their successors
two decades later, not to mention
Spin off
by Mary Henkel Judson
I'M AS SCARED AND RES
pectful of hurricanes as any sane
person who has spent his life on the
coast of South Texas. I wish they’d
hire some of us as television and
radio announcers during hurricane
season.
Tuesday afternoon there were
more excited, dramatic announcers
on the airwaves than flies at a picnic
- if I may make the comparison.
Announcers were virtually shout-
ing into their microphones: “At 5
p.m. - at 5 p.m. Hurricane Alicia's
coordinates were latitude 27.1 -
latitude 27.1 north. (Pause) Longi-
tude 95.5 - 95.5 west. That's latitude
27.1 north, longitude 95.5 west.
Residents are URGED to take all
precautions advised by local authori
ties. TTiere are other stories at this
hour, but they aren't relevant.”
I actually heard verbatum - that
last line on an area radio station.
That sort of announcing serves
little more purpose than to fill people
(familiar or not with hurricanes) with
panic. A panicked public is not good
under any circumstance, but particu-
larly if they must be moved or move
by C. M. Henkel Jr.
those of today. And of course note
the tens of thousands of citizens who
even now believe that we can create
and live in a sort of Fortress U.S.A.
Here I have expressed myself in the
very mildest of terms. But the bile
rises. I think of that imaginary
gathering of protesting women. I
should like to see the expressions on
their faces as the last one reads the
final paragraph of “Bataan:”
“A year or two after the war, the
POW’s were also given a dollar for
every day they had been a prisoner.
The money came from Japanese
reparations. Chaplain Zimmerman
got $1,274. “A buck a day for living
in a hell that makes Dante’s
“Intemo” seem like Disneyland!
The bile sticks in my throat. And it
stings. I think of the Hollywood
actress who during the Vietnam War
went to Hanoi to lend comfort to the
enemy, the while American young
sters were dying in nearby jungles.
By many she is adored today. She
has a book that has been on the best
seller lists for months. What is
happening in this country, its people,
what of the future? TTie blood of
hundreds of thousands of Americans
is in the hands of the pacifists, those
who refused to believe that the best
way to prevent war is to be
prepared. Someday, tomorrow or on
another tomorrow, faced by an
enemy that demands that we
capitulate, how many will be willing
to do so? In the name of peace,
naturally!
itself a great distance. Panicked and
prepared are two very different
states of being. One is counterpro-
ductive - and T m not referring to
“prepared.”
This type of handling of a
potentially dangerous situation leads
to a lack of respect by the public for
the media. It becomes a cruel
relationship wherein the public
depends upon, yet has no trust in,
the media. That's not fair to the
public and it wins no points for
the media - credible or otherwise.
I don’t respect or appreciate that
sort of approach to news of such
A couple of funny things happened
on my way to see America.
I explained to a New York City
taxi-driver how to get back to
Manhattan Island from Edge water,
,New Jersey. No kidding! It was late
one night a week or so ago and I had
parked my van on a service station
parking lot. On a side street adjacent
to a highway interchange with a lot
of confusing signs.
While getting ready to try to get
some sleep, I had the dome lights
on. And this cab came whipping by.
Slammed on his brakes and turned in
the station drive. Yeah, I was a little
nervous.
The driver looked about sixteen
years old, however, so I relaxed. And
he also looked lost. With which I
could empathize, having spent most
of that afternoon driving across
Manhattan Island. I sure did!
Turned out he'd brought a fare out
from the city and somehow had
gotten turned around and couldn't
find how to get back on the bridge
leading back into NYC. That was
probably the only directions I was
capable of giving him. But he didn’t
know that. And drove off, grateful
and undoubtedly thinking how lucky
he was to come across such a smart
character.
It’s like my Uncle Tookie useta
say: you don’t have to know much if
you know the right thing!
Then I went to Washington. To
our nation’s capitol. That seat of
federal government so often villified
and ridiculed by newspaper col-
umnists.
Now I know that the Buchanans
serious nature. I say that as
Joe-on the-Street as well as a
member of the media who works
hard to maintain my own credibility -
and your respect.
Simple straight-to the point report-
ing will motivate the public to proper
action in an emergency. It’s not
necessary and it’s irresponsible - to
dramatize an already dramatic story.
I do not feel that I have written
unfairly of my “brothers of the
cloth” - because I do not count
among my brothers of the cloth
members of the media who practice
this type reporting.
and the Novaks and the Kilpatricks
and even the Goodmans and the
McCrorys spend their waking hours
in the hot pursuit of political news
and intrigue and are perhaps entitled
to their cynicism and their carping
complaints about the “ phoniness'’
which, to them, seems so prevalent.
And I know that ten hours walking
the streets and talking to maybe
40-50 people about their ideas and
feelings does not make me an expert
on Washington.
But it leaves me with a new
appreciation for this beautiful city
and for all of us “outsiders” who
still thrill to the sight of the
Washington Monument, who are
moved by the majestic beauty of The
Capitol, and are filled with pride as
we are reminded of our heritage of
greatness and our history of compas-
sion.
tions with families from Pennsylvania
and Alabama, from Iowa and Florida,
from far and wide, I heard pride and
confidence. No matter their politics,
whether for or against those now
holding office, the folks I talked to
are proud of our country. Proud that
we have the freedom to disagree,
proud that we are a people that
believe in changing and yet remain-
ing the same.
When I drove across the Potomac,
past the Pentagon and into Virginia,
heading for home, I felt better for
having been there. Somehow, I felt a
fresh awareness of how fortunate I
am to live in this great country.
And I felt anew the responsibilities
that go along with all the privileges
our citizenship offers.
And I know they begin where I
am!
Letters
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1 Ull /uailBUH, IX 4 0040
to the editor
To the editor:
Thursday, Aug. 4, the City Council
heard a proposal from the Chamber
of Commerce to increase the city
motel tax from its present 3% to ??
The objections came from the
small motel owners.
Councilman Ed Reed said, “Sadly
the small motels are going to be run
out of business.”
The small motel owners pay
thousands of dollars each year to the
city, school and water district.
Will the people who pay a very
small amount of tax be able to take
up the slack when we, “Sadly," are
phased out ??
E. Caylor
Anglers’ Court
Port Aransas
Southern Publishing, Inc.
749-5131
P.O. Box 1116 Port Aransas, Tx. 78373
141 W. Cotter
Subscriptions: $12 per year
Co-Publishers
Murray and Mary Judson
Advertising Manager Managing Editor
Murray Judson Mary Judson
Office Supplies/Classified Manager
Cindy Abrahams Valerie Crofoot
Composing
Barbara Yates
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
AWARD WINNER
1983
The South Jetty is published every Thursday by Southern
Publishing, Inc. at 141 W. Cotter Avenue in Port Aransas Any
rnuueoua tuiemrni regarding corporations. firms or individuals
will be gladly corrected when called to the attention of the
editors
Second Class Postage is paid at Port Aranaaa. Texas 7M73.
Publication Number 946 020
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Judson, Mary. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 18, 1983, newspaper, August 18, 1983; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth623322/m1/2/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.