Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 108, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 22, 1990 Page: 4 of 44
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Polk County Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Livingston Municipal Library.
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THURSDAY FEBRUARY 8, ISM
ED TOR AL
THE POLK COUNTY ENTERPRISE
PAGE4A
Letters to the editor
Prisoner looking for lost relatives
To the editor:
Please forgive me for imposing
on you like this, but I truly need
your real help desperately. You
see, my name is I bin Curtis and I
was born right there in Liv-
ingston, Texas. But my parents
moved from Texas to Alabama
when I was just 5 years old and
we had only been living in
Alabama for a year when my
mother and father had a bad
automobile accident and they
were both killed.
And so that’s really why I’m
writing you today - and why I
truly need yohr help and
understanding so much.
You see, I was the only child,
and so I was left homeless after
my parents’ death. To make a
long story short, I ended up being
placed in a foster home after my
parents’ death and I had to live
there until I turned 18 years of
age. Then 1 went out on my own in
life, and I did pretty good for
almost three years; I was even
about to start college.
But then I got laid off work and
with no job I really started to
struggle hard in life. And the next
thing I knew I got mixed up with
the wrong crowd and I ended up
in prison over here in Alabama.
Now that almost five years of be-
ing in prison has passed, I will be
coming up for parole very, very
soon and I have another chance to
really be something in this world.
But, as you may already know,
it’s very hard to make a parole
down here in Alabama when you
don’t have any family or any
relatives on the outside to spon-
sor you.
So now I’m desperately trying
to locate some of my blood
relatives, most of whom I’ve
never met before, and I know that
a lot of them are still living there
in Livingston, Texas. So editor,
will you please help me? Will you
please print this letter for me in
the editorial section of your
newspaper as soon as you
possibly can? That way I know
that some of my relatives will see
it, and they can contact me here.
Of if somebody out there would
just like to write to me as a
friend, then please do and I’ll
answer all letters because, as it
stands now, I don’t have anyone
and I’m a very lonely man. So by
all means, editor, please help me
and print this letter for me as
soon as possible and I will be
forever thankful and indebted to
you.
(My mother’s and father’s
names were Betty and Wilson
Curtis).
Ibin Curtis
No. 129456
ION St Clair Road
Springfield, Ala. 35146
Sportsmanship should extend to coverage
To the editor:
This is really an open letter to
Van Thomas, the sports editor for
the Enterprise. I have struggled
for the past two years to read his
news stories and column and
compare them favorably to the
other reporting in this paper. I
can’t make that comparison yet.
Any journeyman writer knows
that personal opinions do not
belong in a straight news story.
Mr. Thomas has evidently not yet
learned that most basic rule of
journalism. Today’s issue, Feb.
1$, exhibits this lack of
knowledge most succinctly and,
at the same time, shows a distinct
lack of common kindness for an
athletic team.
Mr. Thomas, your remark
about the “lowly Lumberton
Raiders’’ basketball team losing
to the Lions is in very poor taste.
This phrase was in the lead-in to
your news story of the game, but
the worst came later in the story.
Quote “It was pretty tough for the
Lions to get fired up playing a
team like Lumberton. Most
junior high teams could beat the
Raiders.” End quote.
Mr. Thomas, those are terrible
things to say about a young group
of high school athletes. These are
not adult, highly-skilled profes-
sional athletes you are writing
about. These are young people of
impressionable minds and sen-
sitive egos, still in the learning
and developing stage of their
sport. These youngsters, more
than their coaches, their parents,
their peers and even you, Mr.
Thomas, know their record and
quality of play better than anyone
else. They didn’t need your
callous, unkind remarks, Mr.
Thomas. They are just a group of
young athletes who aren’t quit-
ters. They did finish their season,
didn’t they? Why not try a little
sportsmanship, Mr. Thomas,
which is what high school
athletics is supposed to center
around.
Mr. Thomas, watch the young
athletes at the end of the next
contest you cover. Watch these
kids, both winners and losers,
shake hands and pat each other
on the back, wishing each other
well in future contests. Look and
listen, Mr. Thomas, and perhaps
learn a little bit about human
kindness. When these young
athletes give the very best of
their abilities, performing their
skills at the highest level they can
achieve, are there really any
losers?
Come on now, Mr. Thomas,
show all of us some real profes-
sional journalism.
Robert L. Sharp
14M Beech Creek Road
Livingston
State Capital Highlights
Do you have an opinion?
The Polk County Enterprise en-
courages readers to submit let-
ters expressing their views and
opinions.
The letters will be published in
the Enterprise’s “Letters to the
editor” column on Thursday or
Sunday.
The letter may be written on
arqr subject or issue of general in-
terest.
Letters must be accompanied
by a name and mailing address
and will be subject to editing for
grammar, punctuation, spelling
and length.
Letters must include a
telephone number for verifica-
tion. We will not publish the
telephone number.
Readers should keep their let-
ters brief and to the point. Each
letter should contain no more
than 650 words. Letters ex-
ceeding that length will be edited
or withheld from publication.
Letters will also be subject to
editing for libelous or slanderous
statements and commercialism.
This column is not meant as a
forum for political candidates,
although we welcome comments
from the public concerning cam-
paign issues. During election
campaigns we will not allow men-
tion of specific candidates.
Letters may be submitted in
person or can be mailed to “Let-
ters to the editor”, Polk County
Enteiprise, P.O. Boa 1278, Liv-
ingston, ft. 77361.
Legislature to tackle education
By LYNDELL WILLIAMS
Texas Press Association
AUSTIN - Next week the Texas
Legislature will convene in special
session to attempt to repair the
state’s unconstitutional system of
funding public education.
Hie math assignment seems sim-
ple enough, but some lawmakers
would like to raise taxes so that each
child gets a bigger share.
To stop the pro-tax solons, Gov.
Bill Clements scheduled the session
just two weeks before the primary
elections, when undecided voters
are finally choosing a favorite can-
didate.
Politics has a rule of thumb which
says the voters have a short memory
- six months, at best.
Clements’ lesson is obvious: Any
legislator who wants to raise taxes
had better be prepared to face im-
mediate public reaction.
He assumes, like Texas conser-
vatives do, that voters will punish
lawmakers who raise taxes.
Texas liberals assume just the op-
posite: Voters will reward
lawmakers who spend money on
them, especially new tax money.
Who’s^tt^O^ntewiU likely
win this session.
For one thing, sane lawmakers
don’t want to waste the last two
weeks of a campaign in Austin
discussing any issue. Period.
For another, the Governor’s Task
Force on Public Education said it
has found the extra money to in-
crease public school funding by $230
million next year. By the 1996-97
year, when the plan would be fully
implemented, the state would be
spending $1.6 billion more on schools
than it is now.
State Rep. Jim Rudd, chairman of
the House Appropriations Commit-
tee and a member of the task force,
said be believes the plan “is a doable
deal without a tax bill” the first
year.
The odds are legislators will be
back home before election day.
Public education - quality, spen-
ding levels, fairness - will be the last
issue of the primaries, and some say
education is already the key issue
for the general election.
If they’re right, look for a classic
conservative-liberal battle on the
campaign trail all summer with sur-
prising lessons on both sides.
Polls show voters will raise taxes
first for education, but they don’t
really need a poll on that emotional
issue. You’re talking about the
voters’ children, or the kids next
door, or why the voter is a success
because of his/her own schooling.
Some candidates are going to bet
the ranch they’ll get elected pledg-
ing new taxes for education.
Need a barometer? Four years
ago, Mark White was defeated for
setting new records raising taxes,
tuition and fees to finance HB 7i
Today, White’s comeback bid is
real and growing. He’s the “educa-
tion governor,” and, in the TV
debate, he said he’ll raise taxes
again, if necessary. You can bet he
already thinks it is.
Meanwhile, the GOP guber-
natorial campaign switched from
crash of a twin-engine plane owned
by Clayton Williams which took the
lives of four key business associates,
raising questions about his cam-
paign’s future.
Williams canceled personal ap-
pearances and pulled all commer-
cials off the air. But a spokesman
said his camp^gn staff assumed the
campaign would resume.
Reports filed last week showed
Williams leading the gubernatorial
spending field with $5.7 million and
Democrat Jim Mattox second with
$3.2 million.
In the GOP camp, Williams loaned
his campaign $1 million; Tom Luce
got a $50,000 contribution each from
H. Ross Perot and Peter O’Donnell,
and Kent Hance received $40,000
from Lonnie “Bo" Pilgrim, who
shocked senators last session by
passing out $10,000 blank checks in
their chamber, t
Among Democrats, Mark White
and Ann Richards raised about
$350,000 each to $71,000 for Mattox.
Other Highlights
•State Sen. Dee Harris, R-Dallas,
wants the special session to consider
his bill to help the racing industry by
reducing the state tax on pari-
mutuel betting.
Horsemen say the reduction is
needed to get the fledging industry
off dead-center. Plans are to include
dog racing in the bill in exchange for
that industry’s lobbying assistance.
•UJ3. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San
Antonio, said he will introduce
legislation to add 20 new federal
judges to districts moat affected by
drug-related criminal activities.
•A federal grand jury is in-
vestigating whether tactics used to
raise campaign contributions for
Agriculture Commissioner Jim
Hightower resulted in the misuse of
public funds.
bussing,on a proposed settle-
sion will begin on March 19, a PUC
official said.
•The State Board of Insurance ap-
proved a simpler homeowners’ in-
surance policy with shorter
sentences, simpler words and largo-
type.
Independent business group believes
Congress may be due for 'trade-in'
By JOHN SLOAN
If Congress were a car, there
would be no end to service depart-
ment trips. The engine stalls, the gas
mileage is out of sight and the old
clunker gets more unsafe each day.
More repairs or trade-in time?
If the public sentiment expressed
in a recent Gallup survey commis-
sioned by the National Federation of
Independent Business is accurate,
there is growing dissatisfaction with
Congress all across the nation. The
small-business advocacy organiza-
tion, in an effort to probe the depth
and breadth of voter disenchant-
ment, polled not only entrepreneurs,
but the general public, state
legislators and members of both
houses of Congress. In most cases,
the general public’s viewpoint
paralleled that of the business
owners.
Should there be limits on those
who are elected to federal offices?
Seven in 10 Americans favor
limiting the total number of years a
person can serve on Capitol Hilj.
Even a majority of sitting U.S.
senators agree.
What hbout altering the UJS. Con-
stitution to reflect this change in at-
I'M SURfc Yll Mte NO PRO0UBH
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titudes? A majority of the public,
small-business owners and U.S.
senators said they would favor a
constitutional amendment restric-
ting congressional terms to 12 years
in each house. Three out of four U.S.
House members and state
legislators were opposed.
Although there has been an effort
underway since 1986 to encourage
smaD-business owners to become
more politically active, the release
of this survey is an attempt to force
the broader issue of effective
government to the forefront of
public policy debate.
For almost as long as there have
been small-business owners in
America, a general consensus
amot< them existed that the UJS.
Congress is the chief source of pro-
blems, i.e. paperwork, new and
more complex taxes, burdensome
regulations and unwarranted red
tape.
Special treatment is not what
owners are seeking.
What they want is a national
legislative body that is willing to
represent all Americans fairly and
equally. But in recent years, there
has been a noticeable trend in
Washington to view the business
community only as a source«6 tax
revenue to solve problems that Con-
gram refund to deal vith directly.
Can mmiers of Congress be un-
duly influenced by special interest
groups? Almost all, 96 percent, of
the small-business owners surveyed
by Gallup believe that incumbent
sensible action. But no me should
expect adequate solutions to our na-
tional problems from a lawmaking
body which views re-election as its
first priority.
It is probably a good thing that
Congress is not a car. The way
voters feel today, they might scrap
that old lemon, *
Jehu Sloan is President of the Na-
tional Federation of Independent
Business, representing more than
half a million small-business men
and women.
POLK COUNTY
ENTERPRISE
ALVIN HOLLEY, PUBLISHER
Telephone Number 327-4357
USPS 437-340
Entered as Second-Class Matter at the Post Office at Livingston,
Texas 77351 under the Act of Congress of March 3,1687.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Barbara White, Editor
Van Thomas, Sports Editor
Greg Peak, Area News Editor
Don Hendrix, 8pecial Sections Editor
Dianna Campbell, Living Section Editor
Emily Banka, Reporter
Stephen Heqgst, Photographer
PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT
Gordon LeBarron, Mike Kelly, Don Holeman
Beamon Goodwin, Adrian Dunn, Lae Torres
Dorothy Wilson, Cempeslttea Supervisor
Valerie Lensx, Assistant Sapenriser
Angela Brakel, Sheri Breamhan
ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT
Linda Hellay, Ad Manager
Mary Jo Watson, Sandra Jackson, Kay Loy Cuevas
More than foupUfths are concerted
t politicians may lorn touch with
Patty Hankerd
BOOKKEEPING DEPARTMENT
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- Diana Fiscal, Barbara WUaon, Laura Munson
SUBSCRIPTION BATES - $ll.M par yaar tax iaeladed, in county,
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 108, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 22, 1990, newspaper, February 22, 1990; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth781441/m1/4/?rotate=90: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.