Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 12, 1999 Page: 2 of 28
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PAGE 2 A Thursday, August 12, 1999
Port Aransas South Jetty
Murray and Mary Judson
Publishers
Mary Judson
Editor
Phnno ('ifil) 749-5131 cay: '361'749 5137
Opinion
Member:
South Texas Press Association
Texas Gulf Coast Press Association
Texas Press Association
Motinnol Mouirnnnnr Arrnnioiinn
• IMI • * V •• WMMW VI
Weak gun laws
make NRA aly
Time for my monthly gun column, in
honor of our monthly multiple shooting.
This time it was some creepy day-trader in
Atlanta who walked into a brokerage and
began spraying the place with bullets. Then
he walked across the street and did the same
thing in another bro-
kerage. The toll:
nine dead, 13
wounded, seven
critically.
When police
pulled his car over a
short time later, he
did the first decent
thing of his life - he
killed himself. Inves-
tigators went to his _ _
home and found his OONALD K.AUL
wife and two chil- ©Tribune Media Services
dren by a previous-
marriage blud-
geoned to death.
it now turns out that the guy’s first wife
and mother-in-law had been murdered with
a blunt instrument some six years ago, a few
weeks after he took out a big insurance policy
on his wife and less than a month before he
moved in with his second wife. The crack
police force in Alabama, where the murders
took place, suspected he might have had
something to do with the crime but, alas,
could not Sherlock Holmes it.
So, really, this guy is not the world’s
greatest advertisement for gun control. He
was not merely a nut, he was Evil with legs.
People like that are going to kill people with
or without gun laws.
1 do point out, however, that when he had
a club, he killed five people, and it took six
years; when he had a pair of guns, he killed
nine, and it took five minutes. There seems
to be a message in there someplace.
Not to the NRA (or the Not Really Adult,
as I like to think of them). They would say
that if only the people in those brokerages
had been armed, they could have returned
fire and perhaps brought the carnage to a halt
before it reached such appalling levels. Hap-
piness, for the NRA, is a warm gun.
And, in a sense, they’re right. If everybody
in those brokerages had been packing, it’s
likely that somebody might have brought
him down. That’s not a sure thing, of course.
I'm told that trying to hit a target that is
shooting back is a whole different thing from
putting holes in a piece of paper at a range.
Still it’s possible.
I don’t agree with that guns-for-everyhody
argument, but there are studies that indicate
it has some validity. My personal feeling is
that the lives saved by gunning down the
(Occasional would-be mass killer would be
,more than made up by the increase in inci-
dental shootings. Every time I see what
;angry, immature people do with their cars, I
.give thanks they don’t all have guns, too.
What I really object to about the NRA,
,though, is their false, misleading, totally
(dishonest ads. Have you heard the one about
how what we really need is not new laws but
.enforcement of the old ones? What a laugh.
However many gun laws there are, they
have been passed over the prostrate and
screaming bodies of the NRA, who have
fought all attempts to control firearms at any
level, giving ground only as a tactical move.
moreover, they have done their level best
to see to it that the laws we do have are all but
unenforceable.
Last month the New York Times ran a
long piece on gun control, pointing out the
difficulty of prosecuting gun dealers who
knowingly sell guns to criminals. One gun
shop in Baltimore, for example, was deemed
by police to have sold 20 percent of the guns
used in crimes in that city that the police were
able to trace over the past nine years. Au-
thorities have tried repeatedly to close the
place down - they’re conducted successful
sting operations to illustrate the shop’s will-
ingness to sell to crooks • to no avail. The laws
as written (and they’re written the way the
NRA likes them) make it all but impossible
to close down crooked gun dealers.
There are slightly more than 100,000
licensed gun dealers in the United States
right now. Half of all crime guns traced by the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in
the past two years were linked to only 389
dealers. Only 42 of those dealers were recom-
mended for prosecution last year and only 19
had their licenses revoked. It’s hardly worth
the time for prosecutors to pursue these
cases; the laws are that NRA friendly.
St» don’t tell me about enforcement, NRA
people. You don’t want better enforcement,
you want more and more guns. Some of you
are sincere, I suppose - bent but sincere - but
others are just charlatans in cheap suits
hustling as many guns as possible. You should
be ashamed of yourselves.
See you next month.
The South Jetty (946:020)
pays Periodicals postage at
Port Aransas, TX
ATTENTION
POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to:
South Jetty, P.O. Box 1116
Port Aransas. TX 78373
Take time for kids
$
Mary Henkel
Judson
Editor
School bells called stu-
dents in Port Aransas
to class this week, that
means the kids are "off
the streets" for most of
the day.
However, they are on
the streets between
about 7:30 and 8:30
a.m.; from 11:30 a.m. to noonish, and
from about 2:45 p.m. on. That's when
drivers need to ease off the accelerator
and keep their eyes peeled, in a manner
of speaking, for young pedestrians and
bicyclists who have other things on their
minds.
The school zone is bound by Alister
Street from Avenue C to Beach Street,
Battlin' aunts equal bad algebra grades
So finally semi-senatorial candidate Hillary
Clinton has spoken out about her husband’s
hormones. And she said that actually his
problem is not hormones, it’s his mother and
grandmother. They used to have verbal fights
in front of poor little Bill when he was just a
youngster. And, according to Hillary, a psy-
chologist told her that this type of verbal
abuse had a profound affect on her husband.
She has forgiven her husband for his indis-
cretions and says that she never blames him
for the affair with Monica Lewinsky or for
deceiving her and the country. Instead, she
says, he concealed the affair “to shield her.”
Well, now I know I flunked Algebra three
rimes. It’s not because I was lazy or because I
was dumb. It was all about my aunts and my
mother. 1 was born in a three bedroom house
which also housed three old maid aunts, a
bachelor uncle, a ma-
triarchal grandmother,
as well as my sister, my
mother and my father.
These old maid aunts
on my father’s side
would have made Serbs
and Albanians look like
the Biily Grahams in
comparison. Modern
wrassling would have
been too tame for these
gals. The dinner table
should have been sur-
ACTUS
Pryor
rounded by ropes along with a referee. Nowa-
Letters to the editor
Stench isn’t garbage
As longtime residents of Channel Vista
Subdivision, (our house was the 10th in a
now large neighborhood) we have long en-
joyed the wonders of the abundant wildlife
and are happy to see the City of Port Aransas
taking an interest in preserving and enhanc-
ing the birdine opportunities in this area.
However, we also agree with Marie and Alex
Porter that the covenants of the subdivision
must be respected.
As many of you know Jon and I moved the
old Tortuga Flats Restaurant building onto
our property at the corner of Channel Vista
and Cut-off Road and plan to open it as a
barbecue and seafood restaurant early next
year. We also purchased the vacant lot adja-
cent to it (between Tortugas and Paradise
Isle) to be used for additional parking if
needed at a later time. We would be happy to
talk with the city about using that additional
empty lot as a way of accessing Paradise
Pond. It is zoned commercial and would not
be in violation of any covenants or restric-
tions. This hopefully could be a win-win
situation for everyone.
In reference to the comment made by
Sharon Campbell and Ed Crim in last week’s
editorial about the stench from the dumpster
at Tortugas Restaurant, please rest assured
that the aroma will be barbecued ribs, not
rotting garbage; we, too, live downwind. We
do agree with them that there is a stench in
Channel Vista; however, it isn’t coming from
a non-existent dumpster, and it smells more
like snobbery than phantom garbage.
Joyce Christensen
Port Aransas
Miscellany
IX) support sheriffs and constables getting
at least a 50 percent raise. We owe them. Do
write letters to the editor, especially Corpus
Christi Caller Times.
Welcome back Templemeyer. A one
chuckle, two snicker piece. You’re a sneaky
guy Templemeyer for an educator. Getting
sneakier.
Mary Diggs of San Antonio fame accused
the South Jetty of lacking substance, except
for, Tony Amos and the editorials. There
actually is someone out there who concerns
herself with substance, WOW! I commend
Brother Safford’s column to you as having
substance, also Msgr Rorv IX*ane occasion-
ally gets of a gotxl one, when he’s tired. 1 find
Kaul silly at times. He tries to be cute.
I will be retiring as your town poet New
Years Day 2002, could be sooner of course.
Might leave my bag, you know. If anyone’s
-—- interested in continuity,
^I I should start teaching
i my replacement sooner.
I am therefore now ac-
cepting applications for
the job of apprentice
*______. ..» TWA I) . A A I
TVI IUW 11 JAA.I. A .V/. LAiA TT 1 ,
_I here. Town Poet means
town friend, etcetera.
Re: The new birding center, No and no
and no. What’s wrong with the birds having
a private place to drink and bathe? What’s
wrong with having a private place for people
to live? You can carry bird voyeurism too far.
You’re 0 for 4 Mr. Martin... you need to stop
talking Mr. Martin, and start listening. You’re
out of touch with our, “Whole” town, Mayor
Martin. My advice to you is: Stop pushing so
hard. The electorate is upset with you. We
are now a new town. Pay attention to that
fact. Act accordingly. Your electorate has
education and brains and common sense,
lawyers too. Remember the bond election.
Learn from it.
Francois Town Poet
Port Aransas
Attention appreciated
My thanks to Carolyn Richards and the
South Jetty for the long article on my new
CD, recorded with Tim Chevalier, “The
Town Drunk and the Village Idiot.”
Your attention to the thriving local enter-
tainment scene must surely be appreciated by
all. Quality entertainment has been an impor-
tant part of what this dynamic destination
has had to offer over the years, especially that
which is unique.
An important feature of contemporary
technology as represented by CD’s is the
relatively budget-wise opportunity to put a
lot of original material out there for public
consumption, with digital clarity no less. This
must be an exciting time for writers in
general.
Kit Gutherz
Port Aransas
Contradiction
I am writing this letter on the same day as
a public hearing is scheduled in Port Aransas
to discuss marine reserves
Marine reserves,essential fish habitat,grass
Hillary: where's
the substance?
RESSUMING THIS column prompts me
to feel like a small boy with a tin can half
filled with marbles making his way through
a room filled with sleepers.
BRIEF NOTES now on the long since
overdone coverage of the tragic crash into
_the sea off the
New England
coast which
took the lives
of John F.
Kennedy Jr.,
his wife and
her sister.
_ I should go
1IDEMARKS wJthout saying
C.M. Henkel Jr.
Avenue C from Alister to Station, Sta-
tion from Avenue C to Beach Street, and
Beach Street from Station to Alister.
That's where speed limits are in effect
during the approximate times mentioned
earlier (exact times and speeds are clearly
posted).
Please, opt to save a life -- not time --
when traveling these streets.
days, they could have picked up a television
sponsor for the daily battles. Well, naturally,
still being in a high chair this constant
bickering and arguing had a profound effect
on my psyche.... and what psyched me out the
most? Algebra.
All of my algebra teachers were women.
And women reminded me of my battling
aunts, so naturally I had an emotional hangup
with algebra. Like President Clinton I have
concealed this episode in my life in order to
shield my wife. Peg, I beg your forgiveness,
Hillary like.
Cactus Pryor can he heard twice daily on
KLBJ - AM in Austin.
flats, we are seemingly being bombarded with
federal and state agencies that have all kinds
of ideas and notions for plans to protect our
marine life and help it flourish. Right?
I am constantly amused, frustrated, and/
or saddened by the ironies of life in the 90’s,
but this is one instance I wish to share with
interested readers.
On Friday Aug. 6,1 sent an e-mail to Hal
Osburn of Texas Park and Wildlife Dept.,
who also is chairman of die Gulf of Mexico
Fishery Management Council and sits on the
State of Texas Artificial Reef Program com-
mittee. In my e-mail I asked Hal if TPW was
going to have any reps, at the marine reserves
hearing in Port Aransas on Tuesday Aug. 10.
1 also pointed out to Mr. Osburn in my e-
mail that it seems very strange to me that the
same federal government that is spending
millions of dollars on hearings and programs
for marine reserves to protect and harbor
marine life will then turn right around and
force oil companies to remove non-produc-
tive oil and gas structures from the Gulf of
Mexico by the dozens each year. I told him
that 1 am only a simple fisherman and
certainly not the brightest guy around, but
that seems a very hypocritical, non produc-
tive and contradictory policy the govern-
ment is conducting.
Now to the irony, tragedy and sadness. On
Monday Aug. 9, my boat was chartered to go
into the Gulf 60 miles toward Port Mansfield
and bring back the body of a commercial
diver who had perished in a diving accident.
This diver was not working on an underwa-
ter pipeline, or an existing oil or gas structure
when the fatal accident occurred he was
working on a job trying to raise from the
seafkxir a jack up barge that had sunk about
18 months ago! This wreck was in 100 feet
of water, not bothering anyone or anything
yet the same people who want marine re-
serves and essential fish habitat in the Gulf of
Mexico ordered it removed from the sea
floor! Go figure!
Somewhere, there are good people mourn-
ing the loss of a father, husband, son or friend
right now and there are countless marine
organisms losing shelter, an entire mini
ecosystem removed from the barren Gulf
bottom along with the loss of recreational
diving and fishing opportunities and for
what ? 1 just don’t understand, hut I sure wish
some of these PhDs would take some time
and explain it to me.
Mike Nugent, Aransas Pass
that I have
never held
members of the
Kennedy clan in much regard, there espe-
cially father, Joe, and son Bobby. It should be
acknowledged that the JFK Jr’s father, the
murdered president, and his elder brother
served the nation in WWII, the first losing
his life in combat while his the slain president
survived aerial combat.
From here further comment would amount
to no more than tribute to my brethren of the
media who inappropriately overplayed the
tragedy.
So a last word, appropriate or not. Had he
survived the crash, be assured countless
numbers would well have been calling for
him to seek the presidency in 2000. There
remember that his father only two years in
the White House, was murdered in his 47th
year, then only seven years older than John
Jr. on that fateful night.
HERE NOW A voice from small town
Texas which is not unlike others in that only
the very few care a rap whether Hillary
Clinton seeks, wins or loses a New York state
race for the U.S. Senate. Forget not whatever
dreams she might have for becoming the
nation’s first female head of state.
On that score I risk boring readers with the
briefest possible report from Switzerland of
nearly two years ago, first reported by interr
national correspondent Georgie Anne Gcycr.
Acknowledging a question from a world
leader, Hillary averred that the America!)
people are ready for a woman head of stated
then inferred that she might be that woman!.
Now nearly two weeks ago the former
Arkansas attorney spoke to a sizable gather-
ing of up state New Yorkers from a field
freshly mowed for the event. Her message
was the pap heard from her at other gather-
ings in the state, the stuff that can be heart!
across the nation in any election year from
candidates seeking whatever public office.
More than 100 representatives of the news
media were present, hopeful for something
new and of substance. With nothing forth-
coming many fell asleep on the new mown
grass. All of worth was the fact that Hillary
had been there. Suffice then, Hillary fans/,
whoever they may be, might be well advisee!
to forget whatever their hopes. The Oval
Office is unlikely to ever be hers. For its firs!
lady president, the nation must wait. Lest
anyone think I oppose a lady in the Whit$
House, 1 beg the contrary. But that does not
bring me to turn from George Bush to Liddy
Dole, fine lady that she is.
RECENT LOAN or lately acquisition;
“Edgar Snows China,” by Lois Wheeler Snow;
Snow’s wife. The book promises to be one of
the most important I have read.
Edgar Snow, known by only too few, wa$
the most knowledgeable man of this century
to know China and its people. Indeed, among
other things. He was a friend of Mao Tse-
Tung and Cho-En-lai, men whose names are
all but unknown to most Americans. Mao i$
of course known or regarded here as a man
of vast evil.
A diligent student of China since my long-
ago late 20s, 1 can think of no man whom I
should have liked better to have known than
Snow. His first arrival in China was in 1928,
three years before my first visit to that
country. My first knowledge of Snow began
with his articles in the Saturday Evening
Post.
Letters policy
• should be of general or specific interest
to the readership of the South Jetty.
• should be limited to about 300 words
• must contain valid signatures
• must contain valid mailing addresses
• must contain day and evening
telephone numbers where the writers
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 will be
published during any 30 day period.
• Letters endorsing political candidates
are political advertising.
• Letters of thanks should be submitted
with payment to the Classified Adv.
Department.
Mail letters to the editor to:
Letters to the Editor
P.O. Box 1116
Port Aransas, TX 78373
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Judson, Mary. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 12, 1999, newspaper, August 12, 1999; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth663066/m1/2/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.