The Big Lake Wildcat (Big Lake, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 5, 1995 Page: 2 of 10
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Page 2
8br Sis & ©ilftral
January 5,199 /
Improved state purchasing can save $52 million
Study shows retired teachers
live at or below poverty line
State u Capital
I
/Vim.
HIGHLIGHTS
By Lyndell Williams & Ed Sterling
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
of Human Services.
The board, which is the govern-
ing arm of the Texas Department of
Human Services, has asked the fed-
eral government to withhold Aid to
Families With Dependent Children
(AFDC) benefits to recipients who
ignore or otherwise do not com-
ply with state guidelines for “age-
appropriate” immunizations.
Withholding benefits was pro-
posed by board member Bob
Geyer, who said data from a
November report showed little
progress in raising immunization
rates among children receiving
state and federal assistance.
AUSTIN — A study released last
week by the state comptroller’s of-
fice and General Services Commis-
sion shows how $52 million can be
saved over the next five years by
tightening up the state’s purchasing
practices.
State Comptroller John Sharp
said the current system encourages
waste, makes state employees’ jobs
difficult, costs too much and fails to
eliminate vendors who sell shoddy
goods to the state government.
Some of the recommendations in
the report include:
■ Implementing automated order-
ing and invoicing.
■ Informing vendors about pend-
ing contracts through a computer
bulletin board.
■ Training and certification of all
state purchasers.
■ Allowing the state to consider
“best value” standard when consid-
ering purchases, rather than buying
from the low bidder.
■ Allowing the General Services
Commission to prohibit companies
from doing business with the state.
If enacted, the list of proposals
would be the “final link" needed to
improve the state's purchasing and
accounting practices. Sharp said.
Sub-Rrverty Teacher tensions
At least 6,000 of Texas’ 138,000
retired teachers receive pensions at
or below the federal poverty line,
according to a study by the Texas
Supse^ Advisory Commission, and
that’s why the matter will be taken
up in the upcoming legislative
session.
The poverty line is $580 a month
for a single person.
Although there are no estimates
of the number of retired teach-
ers who rely solely on their in-
come from the retirement system,
the study shows that 35,000 retired
teachers and their survivors receive
less than $1,000 a month in bene-
fits, and thousands more would be
close to the poverty line if the pen-
sion were their only means of sup-
port.
In a report by the Associated
Press, Glen Porter, head of the
Texas Retired Educator Dividend
Association in San Antonio, made
this point about the need for a
pension boost: “If the free-lunch
program were available to Texas
teachers and school employees,
54,106 retirees would qualify.”
The Legislature will consider
raising the minimum monthly
pension for teachers to $34 for each
year they taught school. A teacher
who taught for 30 years would
receive at least $1,020.
Immunize or Else
Welfare recipients whose chil-
dren are not immunized by age 2
may not receive some benefits un-
der a proposal by the Texas Board
According to statistics main-
tained by the Texas Department of
Health, about 42 percent of the
state's 2-year-olds have been immu-
nized, and according to the Texas
Department of Human Services,
about 225,500 children under age
5 are on the state welfare rolls. A
maximum AFDC grant for a family
of three (which usually consists of
a mother and two children) is $188
a month. Under the board’s plan,
up to $92 could be withheld.
The board's proposal was criti-
cized by advocates for low-income
families, who said that withholding
benefits would only hurt children.
Breast-Feeding BUI
Mothers would be entitled to
breast-feed their infants in public
places under a bill filed for the
1995 legislative session by state
Rep. Debra Danburg, D-Houston.
Danburg said the bill was
inspired by an incident in which she
and a friend were asked to leave
an Austin restaurant because her
friend was nursing her baby.
In addition to deeming that
breast-feeding should be encour-
aged for the health of mother and
child and for family values, the biU
would launch a test project allowing
Travis County employers who pro-
vide child-care services to promote
themselves as “baby friendly.”
Other Highlights
■ Gov.-elect George W. Bush has
announced that his twin daughters
will continue to attend private
school when the family moves to
Austin from Dallas. According to
a Houston Chronicle report, Bush
said a private school in Austin
would give 13-year-old Jana and
Barbara a “nurturing” environment
and take some of the pressure oft
them from moving to a new city
with a father who will be governor.
■ Texas, with an estimated
18.4 million people, has edged
New York out of second place
in population, according to U.S.
Bureau estimates released last
week. The estimates are based on
the number of births and deaths
recorded in each of the 50 states
between July 1, 1993 to July 1,
1994. In 1973, Texas outgrew
Pennsylvania to become the third-
largest state. California remains the
most populous state.
The smallest mammal is the
Kitti’s hog-nosed bat of Thailand.
It is about the size of a bumblebee
and weighs no more than a penny.
3hr Big tfaitf Mlficai
Established in 1925
USPS Publication Number 055-860
Published every Thursday by the Big Lake Wildcat, Inc
in Big Lake, the County Seat of Reagan County, Texas at
309 2nd Street, Big Lake, Texas 76932.
David Werst.......................... Editor
J. L. Werst, Jr..........................Publisher
Alicia Werst Leticia Leiia
Marla Daugherty Irene Miller
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Publisher is not responsible for copy omissions,
typographical errors or any other unintentional errors that
may occur further than to make correction in next issue
after it is brought to his attention Publisher reserves
the right to cancel any advertisement at any time.
Member of the Tex** Press Association
■nd the West Texas Press Association
I PONT CARE IF IT'S
WET COLO OR t>RV COLP
—WHEN MV FINSERS
TURN BLUE AN' FALL OFF
it's-flDO COLO/
J.P Poodles
WINP CHILL CHART
WINP VELOCITY
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33
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FM JH^JKTJEND
FOB
For information on protecting
your eyes with sunglases, write:
The Better Vision Institute, P.O.
Box 77097, Washington, D.C.
20013 or call 1-800-424-8422.
You can send environmental
questions to Judd Alexander, a
national authority on municipal
solid waste and former chairman
of Keep America Beautiful. Write
to: Ask Judd, P.O. Box 33213,
Washington, DC 20066.
For information on feeding,
caring for and clothing your baby,
call 1-800-4-GERBER.
For information on gift spon-
sorships from the Christian
Children's Fund, call 1-800-776-
6767.
School News and Views
.; ■
By John Walts, Principal
Reagan County Middle School
Austin or Big Lake?
As all of you are well aware, the
Texas Legislature will meet again
this year. One of the main topics of
discussion in Austin will be Educa-
tion. At the risk of being redundant,
I would remind you of some of the
changes that have taken place in the
last few years in Education. About
ten years ago we had the most exten-
sive, all encompassing revolution in
public education in Texas of the last
forty years. The vehicle of the revo-
lution was House Bill 72. In a nut
shell, what this law did, was take
away most of the local community
control of our schools and give it to
the Austin bureaucrats. During this
same period the pubic school fi-
nance system has undergone many
changes but for most schools the
result has been less state money. In
order to comply with all slate man-
dates and keep a progressive, effec-
tive school, most have had to raise
local taxes to, or close to the $1.50
maximum. With the results of the
last general election, we have *
chance to change these trends. Our
new Governor says that he wants to
give control of our public schools
back to the local community, and
make the state pay its fair share for
education. I’m at the point that I
don’t really trust any politician, but
let’sgive him achance to do some of
the things he promised in his cam-
paign. We need to remember that
the state legislature is still con-
trolled by the opposing party and he
is going to need a lot of help from
you and me to accomplish any of
these goals. It doesn’t matter if you
arc a Democrat, a Republican, or
neither one of these. If you want to
see changes in our present educa-
tion system, you need to let our
representatives is Austin know how
you feel, and you need to do it soon.
To contact your representative,
please consult the following
lisitings:
Letters to the editor
You may write to the editor at Box 946, Big Lake, TX 76932
*4* \
Thank You For Reading
The Big Lake Wildcat
editor's note:
The following letter to the
editor was brought In by Wild-
cat reader Pat Pinson. She
apparently picked It up out of
the Waxahachle paper where
•t originally ran. Pat thought It
was a good letter to share with
Wildcat readers...we do too.
been left alone. We are spending
billions more getting rid of freon
because the chicken liules have
convinced congress that the ozone
hole is being destroyed but without
any real scientific evidence. A few
years ago these same people were
predicting an ice age, now they are
predicting global warming.
The Americans For Disability
Act did not help the disabled, it has
To the Editor:
The following is a letter that I
recently sent Congressman Martin
Frost
The recent election has left many
in the government and in the news
media wondering what happened. It
does not seem very hard to figure
out We are tired of congress ex-
cluding themselves from laws that
we have to live by.
We are tired of congressional
secrecy and hypocrisy. We are tired
of our congressional representa-
tives using the secret discharge peti-
tion to make sure a bill does not
come out for a vote. We arc tired of
congress passing laws that the states
must comply with but with no re-
gard to what it is going to cost those
of us who pay the bills.
We are tired of the heavy hand of
government intruding into our lives
and fining us or sending us to prison
for such horrible crimes as filling in
wetlands on our own property or
killing a kangaroo rat.
We are tired of a snail darter
having more rights than people. We
are tired of government taking our
land without compensation in viola-
tion of the constitution.
We are tired of the alphabet
soups of government, OSHA, EPA,
IRS, FAA, FDA, FCC, INS etc.
costing us billions of dol lars to com-
ply with their silly regulations. We
are tired of these agencies issuing
more and more regulations without
any regard to what it is costing us to
comply. They have to justify their
existence at our expense.
A physician was fined tens of
thousands of dollars by OSHA be-
cause he did not have
Manufacturer’s Data Specification
Sheets in his of office for bleach,
rubbing alcohol and several other
common household items. A veteri-
narian was fined several thousand
by the INS because he was employ-
ing some Hispanic young men but
he did not have them fill out the
proper forms attesting to their citi-
zenship even though everyone in
the small town where they lived
knew they were bom in that town.
But of course the INS cannot get rid
of the millions of illegal aliens pres-
ently living in our country.
We have spent billions of dollars
to get asbestos out of buildings and
now we find that it should have just
only led to a flood of litigation. It
should have been called the lawyers
relief act of 1990. The $30 billion
crime bill is a joke.
The list goes on and on. All of
this would be funny if it did not cost
us hundreds of billions of dollars.
The election was a repudiation of
big-government liberalism and
against the kind of social policies
that are in the process of destroying
our country. We want to take back
our country from those who want to
run our lives, destroy our values,
confiscate our earnings, brainwash
our children and institute air headed
social programs.
Most of us arc immigrants, but
we or our ancestors came here le-
gally. We arc tired of subsidizing
people who have no right to be here
in the first place. Liberals continue
to talk of compassion but where is
their compassion for those of us
who are hard working, productive
members of our society trying to
support our families who have to
scrimp along because government
takes 50 percent of our earnings?
We have come to realize that the
liberals use the word compassion to
expand government and their power
base and to contract the freedom of
ordinary Americans.
The Republican Contract With
America is a start and 1, for one, will
be watching closely. The liberals
are already crying doomsday be-
cause they say that it can’t be imple-
mented without raising taxes or cut-
ting entitlements. In the first place I
don’t believe as a U.S. citizen I am
entitled to anything except life, lib-
erty and the pursuit of happiness.
In 1982 there was a proposal that
government spending be frozen at
the then present level. If that had
happened, we would have paid off
the deficit and would now have a
budget surplus. Of course that idea
was not even considered and as the
tax receipts soared in the 1980’s
government spending exploded and
thus the deficit exploded.
There are none of us out here that
believe that government programs
can’t be cut without hurting the
military. We have spent some $3
trillion on poverty since 1966 which
is enough to pay off the federal debt
but by all government statistics pov-
erty is no better now than it was
then.
Obviously throwing money at a
problem does not solve it Medicaid
spending has gone from about $15
billion in 1982 to$120billion today.
The $30 billion crime bill could be
eliminated.
The IRS with its multi-billion
dollar budget could be mostly elimi-
nated by going to a flat 10 percent
consumption tax instead of an in-
come tax and tax revenues would
most likely rise. The present income
tax system has turned us into a na-
tion of spenders instead of savers
and that must be stopped if we are to
compete in the global marketplace.
It is immoral to tax our savings at
any rate, we have already been taxed
on that money once. Every time
capital gains taxes have been elimi-
nated tax revenues have risen. The
list goes on and on.
There are more and more voters
like myself who are voters not so
much for the political party as for
the person who by his words and
actions is against more big govern-
ment, against more liberal social
programs and for more personal
freedoms and lower taxes.
The Republicans have their
chance but I, and many that I know,
would no hesitate to vote against
anyone who continues to expand the
scope of the federal government I
believe it was Thomas Jefferson
who said it best "The government
that governs least governs best*"
David P. Feans III, M.D,
Waxahachie
Where to Write/Call
U.S. Senate
Phil Gramm
U.S. Senate
Washington D.C. 20510
202-224-2934
*•$***! •
Kay Bailey Hutchison
U.S. Senate
Washington D.C. 20510
202-224-5922
U.S. Representative
District 23
Henry Bonilla
U.S. House
of Representatives
Washington D.C. 20515
202-225-4511
Governor
Ann Richards
State Capitol
Austin, TX 78701
512-463-2000
)
State Senate
District 28
lohn Montford
Texas Senate
P.O. Box 12068
Austin, TX 78711
512-463-0128
State Representative
District 82
Texas House
of Representatives
Tom Craddick
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768-2910
512-463-0500
ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE
WAY YOU LOOK AND FEEL?
Start a new healthier way of life at the
Reagan Memorial Hospital Wellness Center.
WE OFFER THE MOST EXTENSIVE PHYSICAL
FITNESS ENVIRONMENT IN THE ENTIRE AREA.
We have the top of the line Paramount weight
machines, as well as three Treadmills, two
Bio-step Stair Climbers and several stationary
Bikes.
ENJOY LIFE TO THE FULLESTI
WE CAN PROVIDE YOU WITH THE TOOLS TO IM-
PROVE YOUR SHAPE, EATING HABITS, AND
CARDIOVASCULAR OUTPUT.
SINGLES COST IS ONLY S30.00/MO.
AND
COUPLES ARE ONLY S40.00/MO.
FOR AN APPOINTMENT CALL 884-3036.
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Werst, David. The Big Lake Wildcat (Big Lake, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 5, 1995, newspaper, January 5, 1995; Big Lake, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth739484/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Reagan County Library.