Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 14, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 6, 1995 Page: 2 of 26
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Media Services
Donald
Kaul
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I “Thank
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Cactus
Pryor
you for
I feel as
though I’m standing
jon magic legs in a
special effects process that is too unbelievable to imagine
*nd far too costly to make a reality”. Forest Gump said
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Page 2
; Murray and Mary Judson
Publisher*
Mary Judaon
Editor
! End of New Deal and
its psychology
Did you ever think you’d see a time when Bob Dole
seemed cuddly? When Arlen Specter was seen as a heroic
{ defender of women’s rights? When Bob Pack wood was
! our last best hope of averting national bankruptcy?
| Welcome to the Republican Revolution.
The New Republicans - seeking to accomplish the
difficult task of getting the government off of our backs
• while installing a police state-have assembled the meanest-
looking gang this side of a prison movie. Newt Gingrich,
{ imhbmmbmhmmm Phil Gram, Dick
11 ”, jiff ' Armey, Pat
\ j ( Buchanan, Larry
A \ I Craig, Robert
iff'' - . . J ■ I Dornan; Long
John Silver had a
kinder, gentler
crew. At least they
didn’t smirk.
Bob Dole is still
no prize, you
understand - the
Port Aransas South Jetty
Opinion
Thursday, April 6, 1995
’■ %,\V Member:
South Texas Press Association
Tsxas Gulf Coast Press Association
Tsxas Press Association
National Newspaper Association
other day he vowed to save us all from the tragedy of gun
control - but up against that bunch he looks like Mr.
Rogers.
And Orrin Hatch, remember him? Two years ago he
seemed like something out of Dickens, the unctuous
character who forecloses on poor widows. Now that
character has been armed with a mad sneer and is the hero
of the revolution; Hatch has become Mr. Pickwick.
! It remains to be seen how this bad-cop/worse-cop act
goes over with the public. In starting their program to
\ downsize government with school lunches, food stamps,
abandoned teen-aged girls and elderly, the Republicans
may have gone too far. On the other hand, maybe not.
‘ What we are seeing, it seems more and more apparent,
J is not only the end of the New Deal but the end of the
i Depression-driven psychology that spawned it.
*• Before the Depression hit in the ’30s, there was
widespread agreement that poor people pretty much
deserved what they got. They were shiftless, they were
drunkards, they were ignorant, they were no-account.
There were exceptions - widows, and the like - who were
worthy of charity, but for the most part poverty was
considered a just reward for worthlessness.
The Depression, which thrust millions of people into
.poverty overnight, changed that. Being poor was no longer
something that just happened to Them; it could and did
happen to Us and Outs, not shiftless no-accounts, but
upstanding, churchgoing people who wanted to work.
It was the New Deal’s liberating message that you
shouldn’t take the country’s flop personally, that maybe it
was the fault of the economic system, whose boom-and-
bust pattern was hard on the liitleguy.and that government
had some responsibility for acting as a shock absorber.
The public’s enthusiasm for that philosophy has waxed
and waned over the years, but in good times and bad there
was general agreement that people in difficult straits
deserved government help.
I’m not sure that’s true any longer. To an increasing
degree the poor again are viewed as victims of their own
malfeasance and deserving of punishment. This is the
message that underlies the “Contract with America,” the
New Republ icans ’ template for a more severel y just nation.
Whether the contract achieves overwhelming public
support is yet to be seen. We’ll need another election or
two to see if it constitutes a long-term trend or a temporary
dip in voter altitudes.
I fear it’s the former but I hope it’s the latter. The
“Contract with America” is a fraudulent document,
conceived by opinion pollsters. Using polls and focus
groups, they found out what America was thinking and
they fed it back to us in the form of lies.
Bad ideas, most of them, ill-conceived constitutional
amendments that would reduce the level of democracy in
our government mixed with brightly wrapped “reforms”
that would transfer wealth from the poorest to the richest
among us.
The real thrust of the Republican Revolution is the
return of complete control of the economy to corporate
America. One finds it in so-called “tort reform,” which
would allow corporations to have their way with us without
any fear of reprisal; in deregulation, which would allow
them to chase a dollar without regard to the public good or
the environment; and in tax reform, which would ease the
tax burden of those who finance election campaigns.
And while doing all of this, the New Republicans have
managed to convince a good share of the public that their
greatest threat comes from 15-year-old kids who get them-
selves knocked up.
It’s no wonder they seem so mean. They are._
Change of address:
Members of Democratic Party
House of Representatives
House Chamber
Capitol Building, Washington D.C. 20001
Telephone 202-328-7632
Members Republican Party
House of Representatives
House Chamber
[Capitol Building
j Washington D.C.
78678
J Telephone 815-
J938-4373
TERMS FOR,.
CONGRESSMEN!'
\MEN\ES
2) JERKS
3) SEIF SERVING
TWITS
4) BU1AS
t)0l)T-0F-T0l)Ctt
'eutists
6) SPECIAL
INTEREST
PAWNS
7) CREEK
9) BOZOS
Guest editorial
Planning required for whole Gulf
By Dr. Joan Holt
The Gulf of Mexico Symposium held last week in
Corpus Christi reminds me of the importance of the
coastal zone, not only to me as a marine scientist but
to everyone in the area. The beauty and integrity of
the Gulf of Mexico is an important reason that many
tourists come here. Fishing is great because the
habitat and water quality required by larvae, juveniles
or spawning adults is still in good shape.
Almost all of the fish and shellfish we depend upon
for business or for the joy and excitement of fishing
arc themselves dependent upon the estuaries and
bays for part or all of their lives. Man’s impact on the
system is evident. Keeping a healthy, ecologically
balanced, marine ecosystem cannot be taken for
granted. It takes the combined effort of natural
resource managers, citizens and politicians to under-
stand and champion the coastal ecosystem. And it
takes a holistic perspective.
The coastal zone includes the barrier islands, the
bays, estuaries and marshes, the passes and the open
Gulf. The blue crabs, white shrimp and rcdfish do not
separate the open Gulf from the estuarine seagrass
meadows-it is all part of their habitat, their home.
Events in the watershed cascade down the rivers to
influence conditions in the bay. We cannot treat the
system in piecemeal fashion and expect the whole to
continue to prosper.
Coastal zone planning is necessary. It is not in the
A well-feathered nest we have
Spinoff
Mary
Henkel
Judson
Having been accused of being a red-headed, single-
minded amateur bird watcher, I will note that the spring
bird migration is in progress.
First, the purple martins arrived. They’re still arriving
— or they’d better be. If not, 1 must accuse my neighbor
John Corder of offer- ing accommodations at be-
low cost and attempt-
ing to monopolize the
neighborhood purple
martin market. I think
that’s illegal. In any
case, we don’t have
any renters at our
purple martin com-
plex. Lookers, yes;
renters, no.
Next up arc the hum-
mingbirds. While the
fall migration was
without a doubt the most active at our house, the spring
crowd is starting to come through. 1 don’t appreciate
hearing about the hordes of hummers visiting our “old bag
cub reporter” Carolyn Richards’ home, however. This she
rubs in at every opportunity. The fact that she parades
around on her deck every morning in a blazing red robe
probably has a lot to do with the hummingbird populations
at her house! This I consider unfair competition.
Since moving to the Channel Vista neighborhood, we
have added more birds to our “life lists” than we have since
we moved to Port Aransas. In the past three days we’ve
added two more. Keep in mind, we’re not out in our tennis
shoes, canvas hats and binocs looking for new species —
we’re just here, and if we happen to see a bird we haven’t
seen before, WE MAKE A BIG DEAL OUT OF IT!
This week we added ablack and white warbler 10 our list.
which we understand from local birding expert, Joan Holt,
isn’t all that unusual. Well, it was neat for us!
Not only that, we know where a killdeer is nesting. We
hadn’t seen one before, and she allowed us to within about
three or four feet of her nest, although she did pull her
routine of feigning injury to lure us away from the nest.
We think that’s ■» pretty good start to the spring migra-
tion. As the winds stiffen up and the temperatures waim,
we are looking forward to the usual travelers: indigo
buntings, orioles, miscellaneous warblers which we struggle
to identify, and others which the serious birding commu-
nity identifies in a snap.
The roseate spoonbills are showing up, especially at
what will be Port Aransas’ second birding center on the
island road (State Hwy. 361) beside “Mount Melvin”
across from Wes-Tex Management. In addition to the
brilliant pink spoonbills, there are lots of other shore birds
to see in that area, so pull over and take a look.
The first official Port Aransas Birding Center has a lot to
offer, but I have to admit that I haven’t been there in a
couple of weeks, so I can’t provide a current review.
However, Fred Shannon of San Antonio has, and he shares
highlights of his visit in a special story which we hope to
squeeze into this issue of the paper—if not this issue, look
for it next week.
Hey, even if you’re not even an amateur bird watcher,
but you love Port Aransas and all its natural wonders,
cruise the beach. The shore birds there never cease to
please, no matter the season. Tony Amos keeps us pretty
well up to date on unusual visitors to the shores of Mustang
Island.
Take New York. Take Las Vegas. You can have Miami.
Give me Port Aransas and its natural wonders. They never
cease to amaze—and they’re free, as long as we take care
of tiiem.
; “Mr. Kaelin..."
; “Call me Kato.”
} “Kato, how do you feel about being declared a hostile
{witness?”
j “Well, 1 think that’s terrible...No. Its, neaL Uh, mean. . . .____. . . ,
taiaM wall idi rrml" one. They must make the rounds of numerou* agencies to
i get the permits needed. The Coastal Zone Plan makes that
Bring back Coastal plan
It has come to my attention that people in Port Aransas
have the wrong idea about the Texas Coastal Management
Plan. Gov. George Bush withdrew the plan from consid-
eration by die federal government because he said that he
wanted the legislature to take another look at the plan.
Currently, both the House and Senate are doing just that
Then the governor will have another chance to send the
plan to the feds.
The downside of not having a plan is multifold. Fust, it
puts the developers of property in the zone back to square
Letters
to the editor
mm,
mm «i man
“Well, Mr. President, that about does tt. We’ve removed
TUmshall we
look and see what we can do about the pesky Gingrich?
Kaaaa..-hceecce.haaaaa. Just kidding, Mr. President Mr.
President?"
“I’m thinking. I’m thinking.”
The South J*tty (946:020) pays Saoond Class postage at
MAmuii TV POSTMASTER:
to: P.O. Bo* 111S, Port Aransas 7S37J
unnecessary and gives to the city of Pott Aransas and
Corpus Christi the authority to okay plans. Another
detrimental effect is the inability to construct a Btonobuoy
offshore if the Port of Corpus Christi actually gets around
to a deep draft port A third of the loss of federal money
(2J million per year at least) which could be used for
renourishmem of the beaches.
It is also erroneous to say that another layer of government
was added in the state plan. A Coastal Coordination
Council was created to bring together all the state agencies
to follow one set of requirements. They have no staff, no
money, only coordination authority
Some one told me that the/Tour Bluff Sun had published
an article against the state plan. So 1 called to find out
What they printed was an article written by the press agent
of Gov. Bush. The previous week they had published an
article by Garry Mauro and In the tntrrest of fairness did
the same for the governor. The paper has NOT taken a
stand against the plan.
Any problems with the coastal zone management is with
the local governments, so call your city.
Please write Gov. Bush to ask him to resubmit the plan
to the federal government so that we can join the rest of the
U.S. for the future
Cecil Jones
Corpus Christi
Tidemarks
T) LOSERS
10) SLIME
&AU-S
tt) Y0-Y0*
12) EGO
MkNIlvCS
'3)D0LT£
14) DIM-
WITS
15) BIOCR
HEADS
16) ETC.
C.M.
Henkel Jr.
vested interest of fanners or chemical company CEOs
to increase the cost of their product by spending
money to prevent chemical runoff. But when tliose
chemicals reach the coast, they become a part of the
nutrient cycle and enterthe food chain. Their influence
can have signi ficant affects on the functional integrity
of the marine system.
A coastal zone management plan is a vehicle to
bring together citizens, scientists, managers and busi-
ness interests to make decisions affecting the system.
Its focus is not regulation. The spotlight is on
planning and consensus at the ecosystem level-in
other words, looking at the big picture and making
decisions based on information about how those
decisions will affect the coastal system.
A Texas Coastal Management Program was
developed by the Texas General Land Office and sent
to Washington for federal approval at the end of last
year by former Gov. Ann Richards. Earlier this
month, the document was withdrawn by Gov. George
Bush. Whatever the problems are with this plan, they
should be resolved quickly and in the context of
maintaining a functional coastal ecosystem. It is in
our best interest to have a plan in place to orchestrate
sound development and uSe our valuable coastal
resources
(Holt is a research scientst in mariculture-larval
fish studies at the University ofTexas Marine Science
Institute.)
History text books
are pablum, turn-off
DAILY Curmudgeon’s calendar: “Exegete: Anyone
from either side of the aisle in Congress who sounds oils’tin
affirmative action.” - Compiler of this space
SUNDAY, MARCH 2 - With some 20 friends I
the Harbor Playhouse presentation of>“My
have never before seen anything given such an en
ovation. I have never attended the opening of a Bl_
play or musical, but have seen some great ones at the height
of their popularity. In any event I have been around South
Texas for long enough to remember the old Little Theater
- way out Alameda, before it became Harbor Playhouse.
And remember today with delight, splendid offerings of
plays and musicals seen earlier on Broadway and perfor-
mances of most of the great actors and actresses of the
century, Helen Hayes, Alfred Lunt, Lynne Fortains, hosts
of others. Coming next in Corpus Christi in September,
“Westside Story.”
utnerwise, tor inose wno enjoy uve ineater, mere are
those in outlying areas who make appreciable efforts. The
Port Aransas Community Theater has been offering more
than just presentable productions on the boards, the while
the almost defunct Rockport thespians of the same name
have been showing signs of rebirth in ’95. A March
offering indicated a departure from earlier selections of all
too Qften of slapstick genus.
Now lest anyone doubt the ability of those beyond the
city lights to present musical talent on the stage, the
Rockport performance of a few years ago of “Jesus Christ
Super Star" and “Lavita” are not soon to be forgotten.
MORE THAT warmed the cockles of my heart On the
day following Slick’s making an ass of himself by hosting
live criminal head of the IRA in the nation’s capital, British
Ambassador Sir Robert Ren wick, by order of Her Majesty,
Queen Elizabeth, knighted Thomas Foley, former speaker
of the U.S. House of Representatives. Foley, an American
of Irish descent and a Democrat is one with whom I did not
often agree, but let it be said, along with anotlter American
statesman of Irish heritage, Robert Mitchell, GOP, the
knighting ceremony was brightened by his singing.
MADE MORE EVIDENT by each passing day is the
certifiable fact that the current occupant of the White
House is a blithering idiot. In that, reference is to foreign
affairs. There sadly, if not potentially tragic, because all
too many among us are inclined to populism and more
significant, isolationism, the while the fellow’s misguided
liberalism indicates his love for dictators and autllotitinsim
(Kim II Sung, Gerry Adams and the ilk). '
None of the above could be better illustrated than by the
fellow’s electing to go to Moscow to celebrate V-E Day,
May 9, rather than to England, all because he mistakenly
regards the former Soviet Union and ours as the two great
powers jointly engaged in a strategic partnership. I am
scarcely able to not repeat the words of Zhibneiv Brzinski,
formerly of the Carter administration and one of greatest
authorities on world affairs, as spoken to Georgie Anne
Geyer. Except to insert here that when asked by a reporter
if he plans to go to Russia for the celebration. Slick
responded with “yes, but first I’m going to Hanoi in April
to celebrate the end of the war in Vietnam”. What does live
foregoing illustrate, the fellow’s masterful
miscomprehension of the history of the twentieth century,
especially the latter half.
So then let me briefly quote William Safire on the
Clinton trip. “Yeltsin desperately needs the meeting; then
didn’t Clinton use that need to gain major concessions
beforehand? Because he cannot tell a fig leaf from a real
concession. In return for Clinton’s propping up his
increasing autocratic Russian rule, Yeltsin promised not to
embarrass the visiting Americans with a parade of tanks
that crushed resistance in Grozny.” Further on, Safire
notes that Slick’s decision to not visit London has resulted
in Prime Minister Major putting the historical “special
relationship” between our two countries into a deep freeze.
Safire then notes Clinton’s contemptuous treatment of
U.S. views on Bosnia and his Sl Patrick’s Day use of the
White House as an IRA fond raising platform.
Now to write the almost impossible, something almost
favorable about the Arkansan. Last week I heard a GOP
senator refer to him as an adroit and able politician - when
the word slick would have sufficed.
JAMES LOEMAN, author of “Lies My Teacher Told
Me” was Brian Lamb’s guest on “Booknotes”, CSPAN
March 26. The book title hardly had much to do with its
content, and so no need for a teacher to be offended. Not
least of the emphasis was on the history books used in our
schools and their writers and publishers. Summed up, and
I can vouch for this, the books are pablum, distortion, half
truths, evasion of truth and boring. A few years ago,
thinking along the lines of the Loeman text, I borrowed
copies of world and U.S. history books used in my local
high school. In sum they danced around fact, sought to
please every opinion group and so did nothing to stimulate
the student, instead bore hell out of him or her, leaving
neither with any desire to leant more of the subject Small
wonder that one is left to pity the student who might be
potentially interested; pity even more the writers who qre
obliged to circumvent, even avoid fact in order to conform
to the prejudices of every factional group extant in the land
Loeman makes mention of the books selected for study
in Texasschools because thosechoiceseffectively influence
publishers and in turn schools nationwide. He made
special reference to a certain Texan, one Gablef who
critically reviews and passes judgement on every book
published for acceptance by the schools Along with many
among you 1 have often enough heard of the fellow, i ’
he frequently makes headlines. My comprehension <
indicates a man full of prejudice, bigoted, narrow, j
of the real world, also one who rejects the facts
ignoring the world from ancient times through the [
So then, according to Loeman. when it comes to
the student bent on good grades memorizes enough to
rightly answer the questions compiled at the end of each
chapter, then promptly forgets all, then if college bent,
vows to avoid history as a subject forever more.
Inancient times I attended a school in V irginia. There a
daring and independent master tossed that normal fare
from his classroom and adopted a book by James Triislow
Adams. I have never been the same since. This could be
a really long story.
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Judson, Mary. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 14, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 6, 1995, newspaper, April 6, 1995; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth623412/m1/2/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.