The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 8, 2001 Page: 2 of 28
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I
THURSDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2001
7ie (sHKodiOK RECORD
opinion "
page
The ill-gotten spoils of war
lj Viifcpi tf MMiijri
In THIS TIME of national crisis, amid calls for
Isacrifice, we're deeply troubled by the choices of
the Republican party’s right-wing leadership.
Here’s their idea of an economic stimulus package*:
<1.4 billion for IBM
<833 million for General Motors
<671 million for General Electric
<572 million for Chevron Texaco
<254 million for Enron
This is war profiteering, and it's just plain wrong.
Yet the House has just approved it, on a virtual party
line vote, ending the recent spirit of cooperation in
Congress.
Last week, while our nation was reeling from the
Anthrax threat, the House voted to repeal the Alter-
native Minimum Tax on corporations. This law nor-
mally requires hugely profitable companies to pay at
least some tax, no matter how many loopholes they
can find. Its repeal would allow many companies to
pay zero U.S. income tax in perpetuity—-a loss of
more than <12 billion in revenue next year alone.
The repeal is retroactive, so companies would get
rebates of all the Alternative Minimum Tax they’ve
paid for the last 15 years. The numbers above are a
sampling of these rebates.
The House also voted to allow corporations to
store their profits overseas as a tax shelter That's
right—this “stimulus" would actually take money
out of the U.S. economy. It’s backwards
The right approach to stimulus is to put more
money in the hands of everyday people who need it
most—by expanding unemployment insurance, for
example. People living marginally will spend it
quickly on consumer goods, so it circulates through
the economy, benefiting everyone.
Helping people would make economic sense.
Giving billions in tax breaks to America's biggest
corporations doesn't The Senate could vote on stim-
ulus as early as this week Speak up before the Sen-
ate act|: httpy/Vww.moveon org.'warprofiteenng'
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RECORD
■ICtnrOMTEO FEMUMT INI
USE’S 087 960
P.0 Bei 898 Canadian (HwnphA Taut 79014
fas I: #06)323 5738
E mad address, bbrowrdjhnie4.com
BEN EZZIll Editor & PuMshar 1948 1993
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NANCY EZZEU. Editor & Puhkshar
LAURIE EZZEU. BROWN
Editor land Feed Critic)
E-oui addnss: kkrswtwal can
TONYA FMSTERWA10 Advertising Manager
STAFF:
Mary Srnthsa. Cathy Ricketts, fan McKamay
COVER DESIGN: Tonya Fasten*aW
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
t25/Yeer in HantpM County
135/Yaer aisawhara
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PHOTOGRAPHY
lewis Eual Brawn. Cathy RKkttti
by lauri« ezzell brown
What’s wrong with
economic development?
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE WRONG with economic develop-
ment* Pam pa citizens answered that question at the polls Tuesday in a
successful referendum calling for the dissolution of that city’s Eco-
nomic Development Council. Plenty could be wrong, they said, if it is
done without the knowledge and support of the community it is in-
tended to benefit.
In truth, the Pam pa EDC has tried mightily to dissolve itself, run-
ning up $2.5 million in debt despite having collected—and spent—over
seven million dollars generated by its half-cent sale* tax for economic
development Worse, it often did so behind tightly closed doors lest the
public get wind of what the EDC was really doing on its questionable
behalf.
The public finally did get wind of it, and a foul wind it was. It seems
the PE DC had invited North Carolina-baaed National Pig Develop-
ment USA (NPD) to build a facility about 11 miteii east of Pampt on the
Gray and Roberts County lines. Well, invited may be too loose a term.
What hey did was pay for hotel rooms for NPD representatives cutt-
ing their fair city and assist them in finding land for their building site
in a series of not quite open but very friendly meetings.
When the wind got a little too strong, PE DC officials finally re-
vealed that the NPD facility would house some 3,700 sows. Upon per
sistent inquiry by several citizens, quite different figures were un-
earthed, and eventually it was reported that the farrow-to-finish opera-
tion would actually house 50,000 pigs
Thu news spurred local citizens to protest the new development
They questioned the Pam pa EDCs red carpet treatment for NPD rep-
resentative* versus its wet blanket approach to informing the commu-
nity which would be directly—and many believed adversely—affected.
In addition to the obvious quality of life issues presented by noxious
fumes emanating from such s confined animal concentration, residents
believed that eventual water contamination resulting from seepage of
hog waste lagoons would damage the Ogallala Aquifer.
If the danger of fecal contamination was not already alarming
enough, the New England Journal of Medicine recently cited concerns
that antibiotics routinely fed to animals in such confined conditions also
presents danger *s they enter the water supply through animal waste,
and enter the food chain through consumption of pork and chicken
products Humans who indirectly ingest those antibiotics are develop-
ing a resistance to them—an even greater concern as the threat of oa-
th rax and biological warfare looms ever larger.
Also sounding the alarm were Panhandle Groundwater Conserva-
tion District officials—a fairly credible bunch who, while admitting that
they have no direct authority over the CAPO permitting, said it wu net
a question of \f the lagoons would leak, but uWen and htm muck On*
District board member pointed out that the proponed site had in the
past been the location of extensive ad field seismic exploration, which
involved drilling deep bores and setting off charges. Those holes would
provide an open conduit to the Ogallala Aquifer,
The debate over PEDC* business recruitment policies led to for-
ther inquiry, and to some disturbing revelations. Among those
revelations:
• That the PEDC had paid t total of <484,902.94 to banks in interest to
prop up their clients' fading businesses in the past four years.
That the PEDC had refused loans or grants to weil-4i*tabliahed k)C*l
business men and women who hoped to start new business ventures.
*T>>*Uhe PEDC had given Top O' Texas Dairy a <500,000 grant sad
♦2-w.OuO forgivcable loan as incentive to locate in Gray County Alter
rta move, the dairy was the beneficiary of a <15,000 study—suit not
,V*7~ to •** P«d)lic—to determine bow the business which was tee-
ing bankruptcy could be restructured
• That the PEDC had borrowed <1 million to give to Moody Dairy Inc.
as an incentive to locate » Gray County Moody Dairy Inc usedpsrtof
rta providential gift to build a new 3,498 square foot house with a M*
«P»re foot garage and a 2100 square foot bam on a 2 acre homesite
Yesterdays successful referendum to dissolve Pampas Economic
1had little to do with that community’s desire for*
"*«hy local economy, but everything to do with accountability and
though we are itevoto^oponenrtsof economic develop-
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Ezzell, Nancy & Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 8, 2001, newspaper, November 8, 2001; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth738690/m1/2/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.