Jacksboro Gazette-News (Jacksboro, Tex.), Vol. 133, No. 19, Ed. 1 Tuesday, October 16, 2012 Page: 4 of 10
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Opinion
Page 4 • Jacksboro Gazette-News_WWW.IACKSBORONEWSPAPERS.COM_Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Political pooplah
Sitting here Sunday night trying to decide
what I want to write in my column, I can
hardly think of anything else but the up-
coming election. Every other email is about
this candidate and that candidate. News tid-
bits and Facebook posts are blowing up my
phone. Labeled the “most important election
in a lifetime,” I have mixed emotions and
definitely strong ideas about the candidates.
Doubtful that anyone wants to hear them, I
guess my response is that I paid for this col-
umn with many long hours, sweat and defi-
nitely a lot of tears, so I’m going to express
myself anyway.
Is (
Pam's
Perspective
By Pain Hudson
Managing Editor
‘"’i
country actually considering voting in
for another four years? I truly believe
anyone, and I mean anyone, would be better
than another term of his socialistic maneu-
Dting
Obama for another four years? I truly belie-
y be
be 1
vers and lack of respect for our country. He
won’t even salute the flag, our symbol of
rifice and history and honor, and why w<
he, when his U.S. citizenship has been q
tioned for years.
A U.S. citizen is taught the truth of our
country’s freedom and loyalty when we are
old enough to walk, and most definitely in our
American schools that still pray and say the
Pledge of Allegiance each morning, despite
ongoing deliberations to hinder that freedom.
Obama tried to infiltrate American schools
shortly after taking office with announce-
ments each morning. I remember the defiance
of American teachers and administrators,
stating it was too similar to what Hitler ac-
plished in his regime with his brainwash-
he youth in schools. And the way our
veterans have been treated... shameful.
America, where is the patriotism that we
saw the months after Sept. 11, 2001, when we
watched with horror as suicidal terrorists took
over our airplanes and attacked our very own
soil in three strategic places? We were all
ready to take arms and fight. If we could find
that same patriotism and rage, we would all
race to the election polls Nov. 6 and change
the direction our country is going.
In a recent news report by Fox News Oct. 11,
it was determined that as many as 21 million
votes are considered inactive, with 1,887,762
of those in Texas. Check your status online at
the Secretary of State website.
I don’t consider myself a party voter. Like
m t consider myselt a party voter. Like
nany others, I don’t like to go into a voting
ocation and be told to state my party pref-
why would erence and be given a selective ballot as in
been ques- the primaries. I want to vote on the man or
woman that will get the job done, in spite of
woman mat will get tne job done, i:
them being a Democrat or Republic.
The presidential race is destined to
le presidential race is destined to be a close
one. It has been a mud-slinging election, with
news reports saying Obama campaign vol-
jistering
100I stui
ling t
»uld take ,
ipaig
hundreds of Florida
ing school hours, and
telling teenage girls that “Gov. Mitt Romney
unteers
high school stui
ompl:
lg of
ng S'
“Gc
would take away their birth control pills
Good grief, boys, let’s play fair!
I also don’t like the way it’s splitting groups,
with gun lovers voting for Romney and gays
voting for Obama. It’s really kinda crazy right
now, but don’t go crawling into your caves
and hiding your heads from the conflict. De-
cide and vote! And may the best man or wom-
an win (considering Jill Stein is running).
Being smart is an
illusion
Think smart. Eat smart. Act smart. Be
smart. We’ve grown up on this mantra. At
least, we’ve grown up hearing, “Don’t look
dumb. Shut your mouth when you breathe, it
looks dumb.” Oh, maybe your mother didn’t
add that to “stand up straight,” “look me in
the eye,” and “speak up,” but the whole idea
was to look smart, even if you had to fake it.
No one puts “My kid flunked his SAT test”
on their back bumper. You might put “My kid
can beat up your smart kid,” but people want
everyone from their new bosses to their new
in-laws to think the best of them ... that they
are smart. It’s just kind of a given, that the
word “smart” is a good word.
Over the last few years, we have been be-
sieged with products that are smart. We have
smart phones and smart cars and smart houses
and smart televisions. The problem is some
of us are not smart enough to use them. In
order to be considered smart, we feel we must
own these objects whether or not we can op-
erate them.
To prove my superior intelligence, I bought
a smart phone. I’ve had it about a year. I can
send and receive calls and messages. I can
take pictures, and even go to some websites
on it. I have lots of the little pictures on the
front screen. I can slide my finger across the
screen ... in public ... and make people think
I know what I’m doing. Sometimes, I can
even get it to do what I want. It may take a
while, but I can appear to be smart.
I have a friend who got a smart phone and
found out he wasn’t. At least he was smart
enough to figure it out before his friends and
Beth
Beggs
family sent out the search unit. He couldn’t
answer his phone. He couldn’t find his “peo-
ple.” He couldn’t find the phone when it
rang. When he did find it, he did a very smart
thing ... and took it back.
Today, young mothers keep their kids en-
tertained by giving them their smart phones
and smart pads. They play games, look at
pictures, and generally stay quiet. We use
to hand our kids a cracker and our car keys.
Now, they are playing Angry Birds, and the
car keys will set off alarms in the parking lot.
I guess the smart phones and smart pads are
better. I just hope Junior doesn’t electrocute
himself.
I’m not sure what a smart house is. Maybe
it will lock itself, turn on the lights when you
enter, sense you are having a hot flash and
turn on the air conditioning. I’m hoping it in-
cludes cleaning off the table and changing the
sheets. I’m not sure any smart house could
organize my junk drawers. I think I have
more junk than smarts.
In a few years we’ll have smart cars driving
around town, in a few years. I figure that will
be about the time my kids send me to the nurs-
ing home. Maybe I can get a smart wheelchair
to get me to the dining room and back.
Right now, I’ve got enough “smart things”
in my house to keep up the appearances. I
can slide and touch and zoom with the best of
them. I just hope no one is looking over my
shoulder.
Jacksboro Gazette-News
212 N. Church St. • (940) 567-2616 • editor@jacksboronewspapers.com
a iaMediaNews Group newspaper
USPS 271-720
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Jacksboro Gazette-News, P.O. Drawer 70,
Jacksboro, TX 76458-0070.
Pam Hudson
Managing Editor ' "*
Robert L. Krecklow
Publisher/Vice President
William Dean Singleton
President
TEXAS PRESS '
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Member Texas Press Association, West Texas Press Association, North and East Texas Press Association and Newspaper Association of America.
1ST
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
ilWe
fc^Tej
West
Texas Press
Association
Fighting Parson
Tackitt
Rev. James Pleasant Tackitt, a Methodist
preacher and circuit rider, lived a heroic life
on the Northwest Texas frontier.
Tackitt held multiple jobs as a stock man,
farmer and circuit rider. He had great success
starting churches, all the while managing to
keep his scalp.
Tackitt’s training ground in the ministry
started in less hair-raising territory than Texas.
The Missouri Methodist Conference assigned
him as a missionary to the Western Cherokee
Indians in Arkansas where he served as a cir-
cuit rider for two years and taught in mission
schools.
His first sermon preached in Texas was in
a log cabin in Springtown in 1854. He had
an active ministry in Parker County, and in
1857, he founded the First Methodist Church
of Weatherford.
Few attempts were made at Christianizing
Native Americans at that time, but an excep-
tion were the Indians in Brazos Indian Res-
ervation. The Texas Methodist Conference
transferred Tackitt, his wife and five children
to Fort Belknap to be a missionary to friendly
Indians and to preach to white settlers. Tack-
itt’s ministry to the Indians in the Brazos
Indian Reservation was the only attempted
evangelism of Texas Indians.
The energetic Tackitt organized churches
in Palo Pinto, Shackelford and Young coun-
ties, including one in Graham. These three
counties ranked among the most dangerous
in Texas. Comanches and Kiowas regularly
crossed the Red River for raids. A lone white
man — especially outside a town — was a
moving target in a war zone.
Tackitt became known as “The Fighting
Parson,” finding it necessary to fight Indians
while riding from one settlement to another.
He rode over 1,000 miles during one busy
North
Texas Tales
By Gay Schlittler
Storms
Tackitt settled his family in the country at
Fish Creek near Fort Belknap. He and his four
boys were able to do a little ranching and farm-
ing. Living in the country also allowed the
family to be more frugal and self-sufficient.
For all their riding and preaching, circuit rid-
ers were paid little — usually food and home-
made goods. His wife, Frances, grew much of
their food, spun wool and made clothing. The
acher always wore homemade clothes, and
made his own leather shoes.
Courage proved to be a quality that the en-
tire family possessed. Young County history
records a skirmish with Indians at what would
be called Tackitt Mountain. One of the fam-
ily’s cows came home with an arrow sticking
from her back. Pleasant and his three oldest
sons, James, Lycurgus and George, grabbed
their guns and headed to rescue the rest of
the herd. Their endeavor resulted in 10 Co-
manches ambushing them from the cover of a
ravine. Returning arrows with gunshots, the
Tackitts fought for their lives. Four Indians
lay dead, and son James had an arrow lodged
in his skull. Tackitt’s arrow wound in his foot
was less life-threatening, but both suffered a
great deal.
Tackitt and his family survived Indian
threats, the Civil War years and frontier con-
ditions, most of them living until their 80s.
But his brother, Mann Darius, did not fare as
well. He was killed by marauding Indians on
his ranch in Jack County.
Tackitt returned to Parker County and died
at the age of 83. He was buried in Goshen
Cemetery beside his wife, an amazing woman
in her own right.
Another 100th
birthday...
Looking back on his 100th birthday in July,
my Uncle Mort admits it could have been
doubly sweet had he known of another 100th
anniversary observation this year.
“If I had known I shared a birthday year with
Dallas’ Adolphus Hotel, I might have swung
a deal to have my party there,” he lamented.
Had there been that “dual party,” it would
have been a study in contrasts—one sedate,
the other garish; a melodious Stein way vs.
bam dance fiddles; fine china in lieu of Sty-
rofoam, and silk stockings vs. flip/flops____
“My daddy was forever talking about the
Adolphus,” Mort said, claiming it was the
first hotel that didn’t have “and livery” in its
name. “Staying there was beyond our dreams,
but we walked through the lobby and picked
up left-behind newspapers during our rare
trips to Big ‘D’.”
Named and financed by St. Louis beer bar-
on Adolphus Busch, the magnificent 22-story
hotel set new hostelry standards. Greats and
near-greats from around the globe have en-
joyed old-world hospitality in a hotel known
for 18th century design—inside and out.
If walls could talk, floors and ceilings
couldn’t get words in edgewise. There’d be
happy afterglow chatter about the Glenn
Miller Orchestra; serious talk of two world
wars, the Roaring 20’s and the Great De-
pression; seventh-floor political discourse at
Texas’ campaign center for FDR’s 1944 pres-
idential run and gambling whispers on Texas-
Oklahoma football games....
*****
Constructed at a cost of $1.5 million, it rose
at the city’s epicenter, the comer of Com-
merce and Akard. Never mind the nearly-
new Dallas City Hall occupied the address.
Idle
American
By Don Newbury
Busch wrote a $240,000 check for it and or-
dered horse-powered ‘dozers. City Hall could
be someplace else.
Grandeur was worth it. After all, Texans
thrive on bragging rights that come with a
1,250-room hotel that later was first in the US
with air conditioning.
After Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, a
siren was installed atop the Adolphus to warn
citizens in the event of air raids....
“Maud and I had been married several
years when we first paid money for a place
to sleep,” Mort laughed. “We tried to land on
relatives when we traveled, on pallets if need
be. One time we showed up unannounced at
my grandparents’ house in Houston. They
weren’t home, and the key usually hidden un-
der a brick in the flower bed wasn’t there. So,
we went to a tourist court.”
He called it a “more than modest” accom-
modation setting him back $1.75—$1.85
with a dime left for the maid. Actually, it to-
taled $2.00—there was a 15-cent charge for
the window pane broken when he stuck the
door key in too far____
Adolphus guests feel caught in a time
warp. They’re still treated by warm, down-
home hospitality common there since culture
reached puberty. Finery in every respect re-
mains.
Their “operators” are never busy serving
other customers. From “check-in to check-
out,” guests are royalty—a little less than
See IDLE, Page 7
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Hudson, Pam. Jacksboro Gazette-News (Jacksboro, Tex.), Vol. 133, No. 19, Ed. 1 Tuesday, October 16, 2012, newspaper, October 16, 2012; Jacksboro, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth707566/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Gladys Johnson Ritchie Library.