Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 118, No. 49, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 18, 2000 Page: 4 of 29
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BEST AVAILABLE COPY
EDITORIAL
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.... A
PAGE4A
THI POLK COUNTV CNTBWfWC
SUNDAY, JUNE 11
Letters to the editor
A double standard
To the editor:
I am watching the news coverage
of the Black Panthers protest of the
Gary Graham execution. The main
question 1 have is: Why arc the
Black Panthers allowed to carry as-
sault rifles, etc to their protests’
Don t give me some stupid law that
says its OK If they can do it we all
should be able to carry arms to any
function we don t agree with
' So, if I sport around an assault n-
People should speak up
To the editor:
1 take pen in hand w ith a saddened
heart from the letter in the Enter-
prise from that mother of the boy
that is in jail in Liberty and the let-
ter from the lady that is trying to
help him I go along with that lady.
Something ought to be done aboui
the judicial system all through this
upper end of Texas,
I am a firm believer in justice,
but not hearsay charges I also
thought you were innocent until
proven guilty, but that is not the
way this sounds I have done some
checking Children's Protective
Services closed the case on it and
Reverse discrimination
To the editor:
I have been concerned for a long
time about this thing of reparation,
affirmative action and "rights" the
blacks claim to be entitled to.
I have been hoping someone else
would rise up and remind them that
their own people sold their ances-
tors into slavery in the first place!
They went into the jungles, rounded
them up like cattle, shackled them
and helped to put them in the hold
of the slave ships.
1 wonder if when they see the
poor starving diseased people on
TV, they ever breathe a prayer of
thanks that their ancestor yyos sold
into slavery, otherwise but for the
grace of God, they too would be in
those pictures with flies crawling in
an out of their natural openings, Or
maybe they would rather be back in
their native Africal I think not!
I just wonder how many black
millionaires are in Africa, as com-
pared in the good of U.S. of A.?
(Think about it.) And how many
live in fine brick homes, drive lux-
ury cars and, yes, thanks to affirma-
tive action, have the best jobs;
many who are not really qualified,
but because of their beloved af-
firmative action, they nevertheless
have them. Yet they are not satis-
fied, and what is more, they never
will be. Because they know all they
have to do is make their wishes
known and they know they will get
it one way or another!
They will take this United States,
one state at a time! They had the
Confederate flag removed from the
State Capitol in South Carolina,
which is part of the history of our
country! 'Should never have been
removed!
This week they have hit our be-
loved state of Texas! Yes, they suc-
ceeded again by having two Confed-
erate plaques removed from the
Texas Supreme Court building!
One plaque depicted the battle flag
and carried a quote from General
Lobert E. Lee, praising the valor of
a Texas regiment. The other one
carried the Seal of the Confederacy!
)o you see what I mean? Where
and when will our people tell our
government, "Enough is enough is
enough!" Probably never!
While their next demand be to
paint the White House black? I do
not mean this for a joke! Make no
mistake, they will someday think
about it (may already be laughing
about it, for all we know) and when
they do the government will bend
to them!
I believe that basically, most
black people are good and honor-
able. Having spent 35 years in the
nursing field, I have worked side by
side with some of the finest of
them and have given nursing care to
countless numbers. It is not to
these whom I am referring.
It is the likes of Jesse Jackson,
A1 Sharpton (both of whom claim
to be ministers) and H. Rap Brown,
leader of the original Black Pan-
thers, that are causing all the racial
strife and are making it hard on the
blacks who are working like the
rest of us and contributing to their
community.
I heard Jackson on a news pro-
gram this past Sunday when he was
advocating that everyone be tested
for AIDS because so many blacks
now have AIDS that it is a reflec-
tion on them. (I haven't figured this
one out yet. What is the connec-
tion?)
I also noted when H Rap Brown
shot two black officers (killing one
and seriously injuring the other)
that they did not hit the streets and
riot. 1 take this to mean it is OK
for the blacks to kill their black of-
ficers who are doing their duty, but
white officers should not kill them
in the line of duty.
What our country has come to is
discrimination in reverse, plain and
simple.
Recently the leader of the
NAACP had a press conference and
told the networks -- ABC, CBS,
NBC and CNN, in no uncertain
terms that they would employ more
blacks, whether they had a place for
them or not; they would make a
place for them. If an organization
(anv organization) is as strong as
this, we should be able to read the
handwriting on the wall!
According to an article in this
week's Houston Chronicle, a group
known as the "National Coalition
of Blacks for Reparations in Amer-
ica" are demanding $8 trillion in
reparation for the descendants of
slaves. They plan a seven-day con-
ference in the nation's capital and a
rally on the National Mall this
weekend Well, there you have it.
What next? Stay tuned. And so it
goes...
Flossie S. Keels
Route 15 Box 710
Livingston
A winning army
Weekly Special
Will it work?
fie and call myself a "White Kitten"
it will be all right and I won t go to
jail? White gangs" get ALL kinds
of bad press Has anyone checked
out the Black Panthers and their
"leaders'" backgrounds’
Why the double standards ’ 1 am
just curious.
To the editor:
Elizabeth Carter
P O. Box 163
Livingston
said no sufficient evidence was
found to prove the boy guilty The
court-appointed attorney wants to
get off the case So what does this
tell you good people7 I will go to
the end to see if I can help the boy
If only we could get some people
to go down to demonstrate our will
to help an innocent boy. They will
be forced to listen to the voice of
the people. If anyone is interested,
please call 936-967-3685 or 936-
967-3901.1 know the boy is inno-
cent. He is a hard-working boy and
a good boy
The national media aeem to latch
onto news about every bad kid, or
onto what bad kids do, until that is
just about all the average citizen
reads about insofar as kids arc con-
cerned Admittedly, there arc a lot
of wrong things being done by the
younger generation, but I think it is
only right to realize that those peo-
ple are in the minority in this coun-
try When you look at all the good
young men and women in our
schools, far outnumbering the bad
apples, then you realize the country
is really going to be in good hands
"This week there are about 150
young folks (including their adult
leaders) sleeping in practically every
room in the First United Methodist
Church They comprise the U(nited)
M(ethodist) Army, and they come
from all over Texas to gather in one
spot after another to build, fix,
renovate, tear out and put in, on
places which won't get done any
other way. They are truly an army,
as in army ants, where they cover
all things which need to be done in
a community for those who cant
help themselves It is a ministry of
love and compassion, of sharing
and giving I walk down the halls
of the church which are filled with
these excellent people after work in
the evening, and marvel at their
youth, their dedication, and their
love and respect for everyone It's
only nght to give these kids, and
the many more who are represented
by them, a much deserved pat on
the back and a “well-done" from
this community.
I am weary of being told were
losing our way. It's time we looked
at who it is who have morality,
goodness and ethics on their agenda
I have no fear for this country's fu-
ture with these young folks around
to take over I just hope we can
leave them a country which is hon-
orable, which is obedient to God,
and which is in every respect "ready
for them!" I may not be around to
see it, but I'm sure they'll know
what to do with it!
Jack Dorwin
Route 8 Box 566
Livingston
Richard Sbord
3520 Wiggins Village
Livingston
A ploy for money?
To the editor:
Recently I went to the San Jac-
into County Courthouse in pursuit
of a death certificate relating to my
great-great-grandfather who died in
that county. Bear in mind that I am
nearing the age of 60.... 1 was asked
for a photocopy as I had no need for
a certified copy; my need was
strictly in tracking genealogy. I was
told that to get a copy I would have
to purchase a certified one!
As I understand it, certification is
a process where it is stamped with a
county or state seal for assurance
that a document is a valid legal in-
strument or copy of such an in-
strument. I can think of no legal
use*l would have for u death certifi-
cate of a man who died many yeurs
before I was born when I um near-
ing the age of 60!
Then there was an interrogation
as to what I knew of him... before I
was shown u book with some in-
formation, not a death certificate. It
sounded as if had I not known any-
thing about him (I told them where
he'd lived) I might not huve been al-
lowed to see that! The lady who
was asking me what I knew kept re-
lating to another that I knew noth^
ing of him until I mentioned that
fact. I wondered just what it was
that I was supposed to know! I now
have learned from another source
that he died in 1894.
After speaking of this with oth-
ers, I can only conclude that the
county is going the extra mile to:
1. Get more money for the county;
2. insure that no one's privacy is
invaded; 3. insure that no one steals
my great-great-grandfather's iden-
tity.
My summation is that no one
should have to get a certified copy
of a public document (I believe
even public domain is over 50
years) if they do not care for one...
especially when that document is so
dated that its use legally would be
practically nil. How many 60-year-
old seniors need to prove their
great-great-grandpa is dead? Whose
privacy would be invaded? Whoever
would steal the identity of a man
dead since the late 1800s or early
1900s? I doubt that he even had a
Social Security number and even
that could be located on the internet
if he did. So the probability is that
either these ladies in the county
clerk's office are "over-zealous" in
protecting courthouse information
or the county is very greedy indeed,
or the state is getting a nice chunk
of change by outright selling public
information.
There has been for many years
now a crusade to make more docu-
ments private that art and have been
public record, making them un-
available to the "public* and many
have mistakenly bought into it that
their privacy would be more pro-
tected if this was so, but that is a
misconception. Government on all
levels has been selling and giving
information out for the right price
for years. The only thing all this
privacy issue stuff is going to do is
cost the "public" money and cover |
more stuff with a cat with nine
lives ever could.
Alice Goff
1858 Wiggins Village
Livingston
Give
Blood
it saves lives
I lit lllmitl ( Vnlt i I tU) I .i ( mu. It,i
Houston. Ii'x.is 77fhl (71 1)7'KI I7IKI
*(GASj
OsteyAnaSroe
Kr least
THEY'RE
HONEST.
By JACK ANDERSON
and DOUGLAS COHN
WASHINGTON - Two basic
Social Security privatization pro-
posals are being Boated by politi-
cians and economists First, there's
the proposal that the government
invest in the stock market a portion
of what each individual pays in
Social Security taxes. The second
portion is to allow individuals
themselves to direct such stock
market investments.
The solution to this is to remove
the subjective nature of such deci-
sions. This can be accomplished by
opening virtually all publicly traded
instruments to Social Security in-
vesting Under this plan, up to 25
percent of Social Security taxes
could be directed into stocks, bonds
or commodities - yes, even com-
modities i
The essence of the concept is to
allow people freedom of investment
choice within the broadest possible
parameters. Therefore, any security
authorized for trading on a nation-
ally recognized U.S. exchange
should be included. These would
include, but not be limited to, the
New York Stock Exchange, the
American Stock Exchange,
NASDAQ. NASDAQ Small Cap,
OTCBB (Over-the-Counter Bulletin
Board), the Chicago Board of Trade,
the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
and the various regional exchanges.
Stop the speeders
Speed kills. But killing did not
cause Congress to legislate a na-
tional speed limit; the oil crisis did.
Add that absence of crisis has un-
done it.
Speed-limit laws in the United
States date back to 1901, but indi-
vidual states traditionally held the
responsibility of regulation. How-
ever, due to the oil shortage the
nation suffered in 1973, Congress
directed the Department of Trans-
portation to implement a national
maximum speed limit of 55 mph.
Then, as fuel became more easily
available and affordable, states
started to increase speed limits on
^jural sections of interstate high-
ways, and eventually, in 1987,
Congress increased the national
maximum speed limit to 65 mph.
Finally, as a continuation of this
trend, Congress passed the National
Highway System Designation Act
in 1995, repealing the maximum
speed limit.
This is otle of those situations
we have been railing about for more
than a decade. We have urged the
placement of more police on the
street; in the case of speeding, the
call is for more police on the high-
ways. Police presence prevents
crime, and speeding is a killer crime
that is within its power to prevent.
Instead, the argument goes, peo*
pie are going to speed anyway. We
can't stop them. It would take too
many officers to stop them. But the
fallacies of this argument are so
patently obvious as to make expla-
nation superfluous. The logic and
solution stand:
- speeders kill
- police deter speeders
- speed laws support police
- speed laws must be re-enacted
- police should be reinforced
It is time to stop speeders frori
killing our loved ones.
Bush: build defense, ban
the bomb
For better or worse, George W
Bush has injected the issue of nu
clear arms control into the presiden
tial debate.
The Clinton administration, an
ticipating just such a move, begar
inoculating itself some time ago
and President Clinton appears read)
to give the go-ahead this summe
for a limited land-based system tha
would involve digging holes ii
Alaska for 100 missile interceptors
The technology doesn’t yet exist fol
such a system, test results are no
encouraging and, so far, the Penta
gon has been unable to develop i
“kill vehicle" that can distinguish
between real warheads and inflatable
balloon decoys.
However, Bush, Clinton
most Americans agree that it i
technology worth pursuing.
Clinton failed to persuade Soviet
President Vladimir Putin that
limited shield coupled with a reduc-
tion in nuclear weapons was i
Russia's best interest. After meet
ing with Clinton in Moscow, Puti
promptly flew off to Italy where
met with the pope and
with European leaders who
Russia's opposition to the Clintoi
plan. Russia can’t afford the U|
on its nuclear arsenal, much Ii
the costly competition that a mis
sile defense system is likely
spark. j
Without RussiiV agreement tc^
lf»r fh# 1079 ARM fr*nfv fhn*!
alter the 1972 ABM treaty, the<
United States cannot, under internal'
tional law, proceed with a fillip
fledged missile defense system.
Bush says he would walk au
from that treaty as president if i
essary. At the same time, Bush'f
proposal to dramatically reduoe the;
number of nuclear weapons held b)L$
the United States, perhaps unilaterj^
ally, gives heartburn to the Joins'
Chiefs of Staff and key Republicans
on Capitol Hill. *•
Copyrtihl MM, Anton. * COM
DtotrtkuM by Unit* FMw* Symbol*. Inc. /
POLK COUNTY
ENTERPRISE
.
ALVIN Ht)LLEY, PUBLISHER
Telephone Number 327-4357
(USPS 437-340)
WEBSITEiWWW. EutTexssNews.Com
E-MAILS: polkiiewsQlivingston net - etexnewsOsamlink com - polknews@etexnews.c
Texas 77351 under the Act of Congress of March 3,1987. Entered
as Second-Class Matter at the Post Office at Livingston, Tx.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Barbara White, Editor
Van Thomas, Sports Editor
Greg Peak, Area News Editor
Vicki Coker, Living Section Editor
Emily Banks, Reporter
Gordon LeBarron, Photographer
PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT
Cameras / Platemaking
Don Holeman, Paul Holley
Pressroom Personnel
Adrian Dunn, Beamon Goodwin, Willis Woods
Mailroom / Circulation
Lee Torres
Dorothy Wilson, Composition Supervisor
Jennifer Kingsbury, Stephanie Seek, Joan Alexander
ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT
Linda Holley, Ad Manager
Sandra Jackson, Kay Loy Cuevas, Kelly Rood
Linda Jacobs, Classified Manager
Patty Hankerd
PRINTING DEPARTMENT
Jennifer Birdwell, Supervisor
Debbie Bartlett, Kevin Wooten
BOOKKEEPING DEPARTMENT
Georgia Bailey, Manager
Barbara Wilson, Dee Sisson
Erika Charrey
SUBSCRIPTION RATES - $20.00 per year tax included, in county,
$22.00 per year, out of county, $24.00 per year out of state. Published semi-
weekly , Sunday and Thursday at 100 Calhoun inLi vingston, Texas by the
Polk County Publishing Co.
Any erroneous reflection upon the character, standing or reputation of
any person, firm or corporation which may appear in this newspaper will
be gladly corrected upon being brought to the attention of the publisher.
Cpinions expressed in columns are those of the writer and not necessar-
ily those of this newspaper.
Opinions expressed in editorial are those of the Enterprise.
POSTMASTER: Postage Paid At Livingston. Tx. Please Send Address
Changes To P.O. Box 1276. Livingston. Texas 77331.
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 118, No. 49, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 18, 2000, newspaper, June 18, 2000; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth798628/m1/4/?q=music: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.