Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 2, 1995 Page: 6 of 32
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PAGE 6A • THE POLK COUNTY ENTERPRISE, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2.1995
Speaker addresses parental rights
__LIVINGSTON - Diane Hensley
spoke before a group of concerned
citizens regarding parental rights
and other issues at the Polk County
Courthouse on Jan. 24.
Hensley is the editor of "Texas
News" published by Concerned
Women for America of Texas. She
is a state legislative liaison and has
testified before several legislative
hearings and also represents Con-
cerned Women for America at the
State Board of Education. She has
also been on the staff of a U.S.
Congressman and recently served
as a member of the Texas Educa-
tion Agency’s committee to review
its sex education curriculum.
Hensley has written a parental
rights bill which has been intro-
duced in the Texas House of Repre-
sentatives as HB 661. The Supreme
Court has already upheld the rights
of parents in several decisions.
Hensley explained that in the
"Moore v. City of Cleveland," 1977
decision that the Supreme Court
staled, "The constitution protects
the sanctity of the family precisely
because the institution of the family
is deeply rooted in this nation’s his-
tory and tradition. It is through the
family that we inculcate and pass
down many of our cherished
values, moral and cultural."
Hensley suited that some schools
and other institutions arc denying
parents their rights and therefore
parental rights need to be codified
in Texas law. She stated that
"bureaucrats at every level act as if
our children belong to them."
She gave the example of Chur-
chill High School where they gave
a stress survey. Some of the ques-
tions asked referred to whether or
not parents fight or do drugs. One
question asked if the child regularly
attends church. The survey gave
five points for stress if they
answered "yes” oh that question.
This survey was pul into the per-
manent file of each child.
Hensley explained that if the
parental rights bill is passed,
"Parents shall have the right to
review all instructional material or
testing material to be administered
to their children and government
authorities may not solicit personal,
private information without the in-
formed, written consent of the
parent."
Hensley stated that "the state of
Texas now allows public schools to
send students off-campus for
psychological or reproductive
counseling without their parents’
knowledge; schools distribute con-
traceptives and condoms against
the expressed will of parents." If
the parent’s rights bill is passed,
"parents shall have the right to
make the final decision regarding
medical treatment, preventative
health care, counseling or any
health related service for their
minor child with the exception for
life threatening emergencies."
Hensley said that "several state
agencies and commissions are ex-
pected to recommend that the state
legislature mandate in-home visits
and/or in-home parent training, ad-
ding "This would allow bureaucrats
to invade your home at their own
discretion. She said the costs of this
program would be immense and it
would destroy the authority of the
parent. If the parental rights bill is
passed it will stipulate that "no
governmental home visits or in-
home parent training shall be al-
lowed without the written, in-
Chief, TxDot differ about light
CORRIGAN -- Corrigan Police
Chief James Riley disagrees with a
recent ruling by the Texas
Department of Transportation.
TxDOT notified city officials that
their request for traffic signals at
US Highway 59 with Farm-to-
Market Road 352 and 942 had been
denied, stating that "a traffic signal
is not warranted at either location
and cannot be installed at this
time."
The traffic operations engineer
with TxDOT's Lufkin district,
Herbert Bickley, wrote that
"minimum vehicle volumes on the
minor streets" and the accident
history at the two locations did not
justify the need for lights.
Chief Riley doesn't see it that
way.
"Red lights at either end would
slow the traffic down and that’s
what we need," Chief Riley said.
"We have enough speeding vehicles
and accidents that we need lights to
control the problem. I'm sure the
people who determined this are
educated but sometimes I wonder
where they got their education
from."
Riley said the Corrigan Police
Dep&rtment's position is to look
out for its citizens and the lack of
the two requested traffic signals put
Corrigan's young and elderly
particularly at risk.
The Chief noted that the school
and the amount of truck traffic were
the two primary reasons why lights
were needed at FM 942.
Coming into town from the
south, there's a rise and then the
school is right there, Riley said.
"We need the light to slow them
(drivers) down. It's just a matter of
time until there will be a fatal
accident there," he said. "And then
we have numerous log trucks
making turns going to and from the
Camden mill that need to have
protected turns.”
"We have senior citizens coming
out at 352 and there's a blind
intersection there," said Riley
explaining that a telephone pole and
equipment blocked visibility.
In a letter to Mayor Bobby
Smiley December 20, Bickley,
recommended "that the Corrigan
Police Department increase
enforcement of the existing posted
speed limits in order to have a
better compliance of them."
Chief Riley said he does not
believe tickets will solve the
problem.
"We write a lot of speeding
tickets and we very seldom write
one that is not speeding over ten
miles per hour," he said, adding that
there is not enough personnel to
write everyone speeding tickets.
formed consent of the participating
parents” except in cases of obvious
abuse or neglect
Hensley stated further that if this
bill is passed that "It shall be un-
lawful for any person or instrument
to instruct a child to withhold infor-
mation from his or her parent.”
Violation of the parental rights
statute will be a Class 1 mis-
demeanor and parents may sue to
"recover all civil damages and at-
torney’s fees from any governmen-
tal authority and/or contract serv-
ices which violates this Act."
Hensley said that 46 states are
considering parental rights law.
Those who would like to see this
bill passed should contact Slate
Representative Allen Hightower
and ask him to co-sign House Bill
661. He can be reached at 920 15th
Street in Huntsville, phone 409-
291-8441. The local state senator is
Drew Nixon and he can be reached
in Austin at 512-463-0103 or P.O.
Box 12068, Austin, Texas 78711.
Hensley said that all are invited
to go to Austin on Feb. 7 from
noon to 2 p.m. for a Pro-Family
Rally on tne steps of the State
Capitol. She said that "we must
show up, stand up and speak up and
make our voice heard." She expects
hundreds of pro-family people to
attend. There will be speakers on
such issues as parental rights,
school-based health clinics, educa-
tion reform, Goals 200CVOutcome
Based Education, school choice,
home schooling, sanctity of life and
more.
The Christian Coalition spon-
sored this meeting and Rita Blood-
worth, president of Polk County
Christian Coalition, made the clos-
ing remarks and invited all who are
interested to join the Christian
Coalition, which is working to in-
sure that parental rights are upheld
in a fair and reasonable manner.
OF AMERl
V* ' *
VFD CONTRIBUTION - Livingston Fire Marshal
Wayne Keller receives a $250 contribution from Felicia
Tanner, VF Factory Outlet Store manager. This is the fifth
consecutive year that VF has donated to the Livingston
Volunteer Fire Department.
LHS students enlist in U.S. Navy
HOUSTON -- Carrie Brandon
and David Washington, both stu-
dents at Livingston High School,
recently enlisted in the United State
Navy for guaranteed training in the
Seaman Apprentice Program, the
Navy’s general shipboard and
nautical specialists.
Brandon, the daughter of Charles
and Lucia Brandon of Livingston,
enlisted under the Delayed Entry
Program and will report for active
duty to undergo basic training on
June 15 at the Navy’s Recruit
Training Center in Great Lakes, 111.
Washington, the son of Danny
Washington of Livingston, also en-
listed under the Delayed Enuy
Program and will report for active
duty to undergo basic training on
Aug. 17, also in Great Lakes, III.
Petty Officer Eric Buffamantc of
the Huntsville Recruiting Station,
who recruited the two LHS stu-
dents, noted that Brandon and
Washington may go on to addition-
al schooling or be assigned to any
one of the Navy’s duty stations
around the world.
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 2, 1995, newspaper, February 2, 1995; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth791011/m1/6/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.