Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 9, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 30, 1977 Page: 4 of 22
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Enterprise
v
EDITORIALS COMMENTS
Carter s
pardon
President Carter promiaed durtnf hi* campaign last
year that he would pardon draft evaders. The voters
elected him and he did what be told the voters he was going
to do.
It is understandable why auch groups as the Veterans of
Foreign Wars (VFW) were opposed to the blanket pardon
of draft resisters. But we are at a loss to fully understand
the element of surprise of shock at the President’s pardon
of draft resisters.
Members of the military who went to Vietnam did their
duty to their country, white draft evaders took themselves
in consideration before their country In effect draft
evaders fled from military service for their own freedom
rather than participate in the seemingly fruitless fight for
freedom in Vietnam
Former President Ford's 1974 approach toclemency and
pardon for Vietnam draft evaders and military deserters
was a sensible middle ground.
The case-by-case consideration, with provisions for
performing alternate public service was reasonable and
Just to all Concerned. Ford’s approach is preferable to
President Carter's unconditional pardon of the draft
•vadera whose actions did not involve other cjrimes.
Carter made few thinga clear in his campaign but we
were certainly aware that he made it known that the
blanket pardon was what he was going to do when he
became president. And he kept his promise, which Is
commendable in itself.
Dog chasing car
SEE WHAT I MEAN
BY RAY SWINDELL
Random shot* •< the patting scene
while wondering where ihe Dr Pepper
Bottling Co. got lit name.
, Have to admit. I like Don Staple*,
mb din rid foreiier^.for the Teiaa
Foreat Service. He says nice thinga.
For eaample, a few days back I wrote
a story concerning the foreat fire hazard
which esisted In Polk County. Day after
the paper was published, it rained and
eased the hatard considerably
So, Don tells me whenever he needs
the fire haurd decreased by rainfall, he
will call on me to write a story about It.
. PAS
Elsewhere in this edition of the
Enterprise can be found a story on the
program for the Thursday noon lun-
cheon of the Livingston Rotary Club.
Four people representing the financ-
ial Institutions of the county discussed
the economy of the area as well as
several other things of interest.
After hearing them talk. I am
convinced that Livingston and Polk
County la certainly on the go.
When you consider the sizeable
increases in deposits and savings,
construction, sales tai receipts, portal
receipts, school enrollment, only to
mention a few, you have to conclude
that die area certainly has something
going for it.
And those four guys who spoke
during the Rotary meeting were opti-
mistic that the same trend would
continue through 1977.
IRS
Here is one for the what-lts-worth-
department. Several months ago the
Enterprise published s picture of Ihe
sidewalks on the courthouse lawn
whiah. needless to say, was not a good
reflection oo the county.
Make no mistake about it, they are in
need of repair.
Now comes the Polk County Commis-
sioners Court saying they plan to do
something about Ihe sidewalks in Ihe
very immediate future
One may not like the expression but
there is truth in it: Newspapers get
things done.
HLS
How did Dr Pepper gel its name?
Seems a young soda jerk in the late
Eighteenth Century in the northeastern
part of the country was courting a young
lady named Pepper whose father was,
you guessed it. Dr. Pepper.
The doctor thought his daughter
deserved something better and discour-
aged Ihe romance. The heart-broken
boy left and went to Waop. Texas as a
soda jerk. His mixture was so good,
friends suggested he bottle it and put it
on the market.
He did. And searching for a name, he
came up with Dr Pepper after the man
who spoiled hit love life. You will note
there hi no period after the Dr in the
name of the drink.
He suppoaedly left that off at an
insult to the Dr. Pepper in the
northeast. §)■
In any event, you know what happen-
ed to Dr Pepper. Its national headquar-
ter! are now located in Ft Worth and it
Is one of the largest bottlers of the
nation.
To The Editor.
I believe lhal Mr Carter will he in the
same position as the Dog chasing a car
What is he going to do with them after
he catches them Maybe the Welfare
Rolls or the Unemployment rolls are
getting too small and he sees a need to
increase them
(s) (ilenn Scott
County Service Officer
P O Box 60S
Livingston, Texas 7735P
| EDITOR'S NOTEi This article was
taken from the Veterans of Foreign
Wars magazine and aubmllled by Glenn
Scott. DCC.USN |Ret).|
By R. D. |BULLDOG| SMITH
National Commander-In-Chief
The 1.8 million members of the VFW
(Including over 500,000 Vietnam veter-
ans). joined by 567.000 members of our
Ladies Auxiliary, oppose with one voice
the reported decision of President-elect
Carter lo issue a blanket pardon
covering all Vietnam war draft dodgers.
With equal vehemence, we urge Presi-
dent Ford to hold firm on his decision not
to grant an 11th hour mass pardon.
As first announced. Mr. Carter’s
campaign blunder fwould affect about
4,000 law breakers. This early blunder
is now being parlayed by his staff into
an exercise of mass lunacy: ie, pardons,
not only for draft dodgers, but for
military deserters and so-called, “bad
paper" discharges -- conceivably 500,-
000-plus.
Whose "wounds" will a blanket
pardon "bind up?"
Surely not the overwhelming majority
of families of the 56,234 American dead
in Vietnam (a war we chose not to win),
the 303.000 wounded, the families of
the hundreds still carried as Missing in
Action, the 591 returned Prisoners of
War. the 2.5 million who served
honorably in Vietnam, including 600,-
000 conscriptees (like it or not) who
there suffered 71,500 killed and wound-
ed.
For the future, Senator John Stennis,
Chairman of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, foresees the need soon for a
resumption of obligatory military ser-
vice. The need for such a step is
becoming increasingly clear. A 1977
blanket pardon would gut a future
conscription before its inception.
There is. today, a military desertion
problem that Carter's blanket pardon
would compound. In 1976. the Navy
suffered the highest desertion rate in its
history more than double the highest
Nr.vy rate during the Vietnam war. The
Marines and the Army also have serious
problems.
If war-time desertion and draft dod-
ging are excused by the new Comman-
der-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, why
not overlook the less serious offense of
peacetime absences? With all volunteer
forces, a se.rviceman could reasonably
make a dec^ion to "volunteer out” as
he "volunteered in." And, how could
he be held accountable?
"Blanket pardon" is a class action
equalling mass burial of due process of
the law which defines the word "preju-
dicial." No American should expect
more, nor settle for less, than his fair
day in court.
The VFW knows full well that wars
are fought by boys, suffered by women,
and started by men old enough to know
better.
But, while we hate the war, we will
always support those who are called
upon to be our warriors.
I call upon President-elect Carter to
reconsider his apparent decision and let
our decent systems of justice accommo-
date all violators of the law, lest
irremediable damage be pointlessly
inflicted on the country Mr. Carter has
been summoned to lead.
Blanket pardon a mistake
January 24th, 1977
Editor Polk County Enterprise:
In regards to your article. "Out Of
Perspective", dated January 23rd, the
following comment is submitted
President Carter's blanket pardon of
the draft dodgers is the first mistake of
his new administration, and a slap in
the face for all Veteran Organizations in
the United States. In vour article you
stated (his blanket pardon was long
overdue and the mlny years spent by
the draft dodgers in foreign countries
could not be rectified, or too late for
some to return and pick up the pieces of
their lives they left behind.
During President Ford's Clemency
Program these individuals had the
opportunity to return for something like
an "Earned Forgiveness.” It seems this
program did not suit our poor run-a-
* *-V
Voice
your
opinion
to the editor
write a letter
P.O. BOX 127*
LIVINGSTON, TX 77331
OUT of |PEF
L
iSPECTlVS
BY GWEN BUSHART
J
la watching Alex Hailey'a novel
"Roots" presented on television this
week I ant amazed and appalled at the
injustices and depravation of freedom
inflicted on a certa* i race of people by
lawmakers who created our nation on
the concept of the idqal of freedom and
equality.
The euaiaveasent of black Americans
(who where at that time, of course, not
considered citizens of the United States)
by a certain group of mankind for their
owa financial gain was completely
ml fflkehgj left a scar on our
i*a historic liberty.
White alave owners conaidered
themselves superior to the Mack man.
Slaves were considered inferior and
stupid by their white owners and were
treated like tweP children or animals
and disciplined with brutality. White
mivt ownen mo cmTuun| m uinr
power lo hoop Mr slavee Ignorant and
forbade them to hen to mod and write
or even think for themselves.
What is so heartbreaking about this
rttnatfoa h that after over 100 years of
ommaadpatioa for the Mack man. it is
still consider themselves superior to the
black individuals.
The attitudes that blacks are inferior
and ignorant is still a plague with w hite
Americans.
I see it and hear it almost every day in
East Texas.
Our lawmakers, county officials and
law enforcement officers cannot refer to
blacks as anything but "niggers" or
"dumb niggers". I have never heard
one of our officials refer to a black
person as black without him choking on
the world black. 4
These officials are only showing their
own ignorance and backwardness when
they refer to this certain group in this
humiliating manner.
It is a disgusting situation since our
lawmakers, enforcers and officials are
in the most convenient position to help
the black individual take advantage of
his rights rather than supress them.
They are our leaden and they should
be responsible enough to set an
example for others. However, they arc
only human and have prejudices like the
rest of trt.
These attitudes have been around
since the founding of our country »nd it
is questionable that such problems
which have become ingrained in our
heritage since the beginning will ever
be completely resolved.
However, perhaps the situation could
be repressed to a certain extent if
people would simply change their
terminology. Then maybe a long range
effect would be that their attitudes
would change also.
ways, instead they may have adjusted
themselves to their newly adopted
countries. No one, but each individual
made the decision to look for greener
pastures instead of performing the
duties required by federal laws of this
country.
More than 2,697,000 Vietnam vete-
rans saw service in the Vietnam theater,
458.000 of these men get compensation
for service connected disabilities and
9.000 receive pensions for non-service
connected disabilities, and as you stated
50.000 lost their lives, “Too Bad" these
veterans did not have the same attitude
as our run-a-ways.
I’m sure each Veteran and each
Veterans Organization feel that it is
“Too Late," for these individuals to
return and pick up the pieces they left
behind, there is no place in this country
for these “Piece Picking” draft dodgers
without a case by case trial of each
individual who has violated the laws.
We have the greatest judicial system in
the world and no American should
expect more, nor settle for leu, than his
fair day in court.
(s) William C. Dale
Put Commander
Post 8568, Veterans of Foreign Wars
Livingston, Tens
£ Write your
Congressman
By LINDA STELUES
Four months have passed since 1
wrote my first editorial column concern-
ing the need for more recreation here
which would involve the participation of
more than just a small select group.
Plans are already being made for the
next Fotklife Festival and it appears we
might have to wait until then (October)
to get everybody (at least over 100
people) together again at one time.
I realize it takes time to build new
businesses; however, I haven’t seen any
new buildings or heard of any plans for
any buildings which may house a
bowling alley, ice skating rink, Chinese,
Italian or Mexican restaurant, or a
convenience store (which is open at
convenient hours such as 12 or 1 a.m.
when you want to throw an impromptu
party, seeing how there’s nothing else
to do at that time of the night).
Being an ice cream addict, 1 some-
times get a craving for lime sherbert or
rocky road ice cream late at night. I
can’t always schedule my cravings
along with store hours. However, if you
like doughnuts, cookies or cakes, you
are in luck if you get a sweet taste in
your mouth at 2 or 3 in the morning.
Of course there are probably many
people wondering why I’m up at those
late hours. Mostly due to habit and
insomnia. Having lived in Houston for
over five years, bedtime for me some-
times didn’t come until 5 a.m. I was
usually going to midnight movies, night
clubs, (my feet don’t limber up until
after 9 p.m.) and/or all-night restau-
rants after all that activity.
I’ve always been an active person -
not one for spending hours in front of
the television. However, if I don’t drive
to Houston after work (which can
become tiresome after all that driving)
for some sort of recreation (as. J did
Thursday night), I sit around with
friends who are also tired of juat sitting
around.
When I made the suggestion of
putting in a bowling alley, I received a
great deal of response from others
interested in bowling - enough to form
a few leagues. A few leagues can always
build into many leagues. I heard a rumor
around that time that someone was
planning to build a bowling alley, but
the idea must have died or the person
lost interest.
Most of the people I received letters
from were from people who had moved
here from Houston to retire. But
obviously by their letters, they didn’t
intend to retire to a life of inactivity.
Let’s keep up this response -- letting
us know what type of businesses you
would like to see come into this area.
Maybe we can convince someone to
open the bowling alley, Italian restau-
rant (with pizza of course) or any other
type of recreational business you feel is
needed here.
Let’s see if we can get something
started before October.
Polk County
ENTERPRISE
Entered aa Second-Class Matter at the
Pert Office at Livingston, Texas 77851,
under the Act of Congress of March 3,
1887.
Alvin Holley Publisher
Editorial Department
Gwen Bushart Editor
UeydCain Sports
Linda SteDjes Feature Writer
Ray Swindell Reporter
Beatrice Hall Columnist
Jan Shandley Office Manager
Diane McCaatand Receptionist
Sue HeBey Office Parsennel
Jehu Walker
Jimmy Hayaes
at 5M Tyler St. fe
Uvtagetea, Texas hy the FMk Ceunty
Ce. Any
mthei
9m ar
In the
Taxes 77381
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Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 9, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 30, 1977, newspaper, January 30, 1977; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth781566/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.