Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 101, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 12, 1987 Page: 4 of 30
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Page 4 , The Hondo Anvil Herald, Thursday, February 12,1987
Anvil Herald
Viewpoint
Letters to the editor
1
Hondo Anvil Herald,
Box 400
Hondo, Texas, 78861
Judge Justice has no clue
Dear Editor:
Regardless of die age in which
we grew up, we all cherish the
values and traditions of that time.
For example, I was blessed with
growing up in a small Texas tow n
and attending high school in the
mid-to late 1950s.
One constant of all generations is
the debate carried on by young men
in high school as to the best career
path to follow. When 1 was a
young man, this debate centered on
which branch of the military serv
ices we would serve in. It was not
until the 1960s and the Vietnam era
that the Question of whether or not
a youngman would serve came to
the fore. But that question is the
subject of a completely different dis-
cussion.
The subject I wish to address is
the recent decision by U.S. District
Judge Willianj Wayne Justice that
the proposal by the state of Texas
to house convicted criminals in faci-
lities at Camp Wolters, Texas,
would violate the constitutional
rights of those prisoners. I find it
extremely difficult to restrain my in-
dignation at such a personal affront.
As 1 have implied, I considered it
an honor - as well as a rite of pass-
age - to have served my country in
the armed forces. It also happens
that 1 was given the opportunity of
fulfilling this responsibility at
Camp Wplters -- an experience that
generated memories surpassed only
by the experiences of my marriage.
But now comes a federal judge
who states that the state of Texas
must be extremely sensitive to the
needs and rights of convicted crimi-
nals. We must provide them noth-
ing less than accommodations equi-
valent to a hotel or release them
back on the society where they ori-
ginally perpetrated the crimes. This
verdict was rendered in the face of
rapidly declining state revenues that
made the court's mandate totally im-
possible.
But now comes the real insult!
Those facilities at Camp Wolters
were certainly adequate for me and
thousands of other law abiding citi-
zens who served their country. But,
suddenly, those same facilities are
not adequate for convicted felons. I
cprsider this the ultimate slap in
the face. Since when do the rights
of a convicted criminal who harmed
society take precedence over those
of patriotic young men who willing-
ly defend society? If, God forbid, A-
By Franck Reicer
Reitzer Proctor
merica suddenly found itself in a
state of emergency, you may rest
assured that Camp Wolters would
be reopened to house our armed
forces. V/ould Justice declare those
facilities inadequate for that pur-
pose?
The honorable Judge Justice has
thwarted the entire concept of equal-
ity in this country. When he rules
that facilities designated for patrio-
tic Americans are inadequate for the
needs of convicted crimiftals, he
simply says that the values of our
society are for naught. If the mem-
bers of this society accept his deci-
sions without debate, we are no bet-
ter than a bunch of sheep. These
criminals have placed a burden on
society first by their crimes and
then by forcing the taxpayers to
care for them. Now Justice pro-
poses to increase the burden by forc-
ing the taxpayers to build Hilton ho-
tels when the state is broke. What
crime did we the taxpayers commit
to merit this punishment.
I, for one, am tired of saying-,
"Baaa." I say, "BAH!"
Sincerely,
Donald R. Janacek
Donald R. Janacek is a consult-
ing engineer in Campbell, Texas, s
A page of comment and opinion
r
v
Perspectives
Reprints from past pages of the Anvil Herald
J
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
..."A rose by any other name is still a rose," said William
Shakespeare a few years back. He, however, never knew computerized
listings.
This newspaper office is listed twice in the phone book, as Anvil
Herald and as Hondo Anvil Herald. If you let your imagination run wild,
I doubt that you could come up with many more combinations of names
than we have seen on mail that comes to our office.
For example, it is pretty easy to understand receiving a mailout
addressed to Mr. Herald Anvil or Mr. Hondo A. Herald, right? Names are,
after all, listed in alphabetical order in the phone book. Try a couple more:
Hondo H. Anvil or Anvil H. Hondo. I still haven't figured how they came
up with Herald Hondo or Hanville Herald.
How about Hando Anvil Herald? That one came in this past
Friday, and Honda is a frequent deviation on letters we receive.
Then, of course, there are all the combinations of spellings,
Anvel, Anviel, Anvul, Harold, Hearld, Hearald, Herold. Every one has
appeared on a letter we’ve received at one time or another.
Phone calls are interesting, also, since our company name is not
in bold capital letters like many other businesses in the telephone listings.
You can imagine my surprise when after I answered the phone one day
with our usual greeting, "Anvil Herald, Kis Photo," a feminine voice
asked me, "May I speak to the man of the house?"
We still get letters addressed to long-gone personnel: John Sealer,
who moved on some 15-plus years ago, still receives mail here, and so
does John Fohn -- who never existed, at least not as a member of our staff.
Bomis Lawrence received a letter last Thursday. Now that's a
name people have a good time with: try Beamice, Bemise, Bemis, and
naturally, every now and then Ms. Bernice L... receives a letter. Bumis is
uncommon but not any more unusual than some others I have seen.
But I doubt that anything can top the computer form post card
which arrived a few months back. Identical to that which nearly every
household in the United States has received at one time or another, the
card said, "The Hondo name is unusual. Only four percent of all families
in the United States has this name......"
If I had $29.95 to blow, I'd be tempted to order that "geneology"
book. I'd love to know how the other people named Hondo got their names
and who they are!
Why we could hold a family reunion right here in Hondo.......
IF YOU WONDERED WHO THE BICYCLISTS
...were that came through town last Friday, they were members
of a program called Wandering Wheels. The group began its eight-month,
10,000-mile journey in Florida and will visit San Diego, Seattle and
Maine before returning to Florida. The 35 bicyclists stopped in San
Antonio Thursday night and in Sabinal Frida^rtight.
Wandering Wheels riders pay a feeto take a trip and supply their
own bicycles. The program provides a semi-trailef with 50 bunks, a bus
with cooking rig and a follow-up vehicle with supplies.
Along their journey, riders present programs at churches, help
people in need and take courses for college credit.
As anyone who saw them can attest, they don't let a little thing
like cold, damp weather bother them. Bob Davenport, director of the 20-
year-old program designed for youths, told a San Antonio reporter, "I think
it's very important to be in inclement weather. It's the stuff of life."
WE RECEIVED ANOTHER FINE LETTER
...to the editor this week that we would love to print, but we
can't: the writer didn't sign a name. As we’ve said before, we won't publish
your name if you ask us not to, but we have to know your name and how
to contact you for our records. ,
If >ou have an opinion worth voicing, isn't it worth signing your
name?
MARK liKlTSCll AND SOME OF HIS CREW
...came across a den full of rattlesnakes Wednesday morning as
they excavated a caliche pit near Natalia. Two of the reptiles managed to
escape, but nine didn't. The largest snake measured about five feet long and
about 3 inches in diameter while the smallest was about half that size..
He brought the snakes by the Anvil Herald office for a photo
and I attempted to take a couple of pictures of them but ended up with
nothing.
Seco Philosopher Wonders:
If Manned Flight Into Space
Will Be a Big Joke on the
Scientists
Dear editar:
Last week it wasn't necessary to
go out of your way at all to gel
hold of the main topic of discussion
throughout the world - that
satellite the Russians shot out into
space, and while I have not heard of
anybody around here who has seen
it, I'll admit if they're like me they
haven't tried very hard...
But I've been thinking, what a
joke it would be on the scientists if
after we spend several billion
dollars, get the rocket ship tip all
right, and the man on board
successfully sails it around
throughout space for a few days and
then radios back: "Well, I've been
around the moon twice, I've traveled
a hundred million miles in every
direction I can think of from the
earth, I've explored everything I can
find out here, and while I hate to
say this, I know you've spent a lot
of money getting me and this
rocket ship in to outter (sic) space,
BUT THERE AIN'T NOTHING
OUT THERE."...
- from Oct. 18, 1957
Inflation 25 years
from now
The editor of the Bradenton, Fla.,
Herald took a long look in his old
newspaper files recently and
projected what would happen price-
wise if our creeping inflation
continues to creep...:
"It's April 15th, 1987. You start
your morning at the grocery store.
You bypass the steak, because even
round steak is $6.25 a pound.
Instead you select pork chops, only
$3.50 a pound. For sandwiches,
you pick up a can of 'com beef,
which is $2.95 plus a loaf of bread
at 50 cents. You remember you
need a tooth brush. Fortunately,
they're on sale. You can buy one
for only $2.25. You add three bars
of facial soap to your basket, three
for a dollar. And before leaving you
remember to buy cigarettes, which
are only 67 cents a pack at the
grocery, but require three quarters in
the machines.
"Certainly you aren't just going
to be getting by on $190 or so on
Social Security for two, plus $100
or so on the side, with hamburger
at $2.15 a pound! On the other
hand, suppose it's worse? Suppose
what many economists fear does
actually happen - Inflation quits
crawling and runs away! It could.
- reprinted from the Sapulpa
(Okla.) Daily Herald
May 3.1963
f So Much For That...
V
State Department of Ughwayi
and PuMc Transportation
By Doug Johnson J)
I wanna be a col - oorti - nist.
J
Ambition floats like a tan-
talizing mist on the outer fringes of
my most treasured career dreams.
Fame. Adulation. Fortune. Dinner
with the President of the United
States. Speaking engagements.
Maybe even a guest spot on the
Tonight Show. All because of a
regular by-line on the editorial
page.
Yes, I want to be a columnist.
My goal is clear. Never mind that
these here scribblings in the Feb.
11, 1987 issue of the Anvil Herald
constitute my first real efforts in
the profession. Surely it won't be
long (say, six months) before I take
my rightful place along with the
rest of the elite gang: Art
Buchwald, Russell Baker, Jack
Anderson and George Will.
They are the gods of the
disposable printed opinion.
It'll be easy, won't it?
Won't it?
Well, perhaps not. Sigh. Reality
has crashed the party.
Anyway, I do want to be a colum-
nist someday. Why? They've got
the greatest jobs in the whole wide
world. Name another profession in
which you can make fun of
President Reagan or any other
prominent powerbroker and rake in
the bucks while doing it?
Art Buchwald, with all due
respect to his rotundity, could never
have been a stand-up comic.
Instead, his amusing musings are
syndicated in who knows how
many hundred major newspapers
across these United States. Then
there are the re-runs we see
whenever he decides to take off for
vacation, and after that, books of
rehashed columns which make their
way onto the bestseller lists.
Finally, he appears along with
other "celebrity" columnists and
political types in a recent Home
Box Office special that lampooned
Gerald Ford (he was emcee) and all
those other silly guys who have
occupied the White House.
Russell Baker writes in the same
humorous tone as Buchwald, but
with a gendy nostalgic slant. His
recent book, "Growing Up", re-
called his bittersweet experiences
while living through the worst
years of the Great Depression.
1 was thoroughly moved. And
just a bit disgusted.
All I can remember from my
elementary school days in Austin,
Texas of the middle and late 1960s
are TV newsreel footage of troops
Fighting in some faraway place
called Vietnam, and the beginnings
of an awful lot of protests, sit-ins
and other chaos involving hordes of
long-haired, brain-fried zanies.
If you read enough Jack Anderson
stuff, you’ll wonder like I have just
how many people does the man
have working for him? It seems as
though he has got a "reliable
source" placed in every level of the
U.S. government.
And in case you hadn’t noticed,
all these guys hail from the East
Coast; another strike against me.
George Will, whose elegantly
worded conservative ms appears
about every two weeks on the final
page of Newsweek, was the major
reason that I and legions of other
subscribers preferred (to read that
magazine from back' to front,
instead of front to back. He’s also
got a book out now.
Columnists have managed some-
how to graduate from the realm of
ordinary journalism. They have
stepped onto a higher plane, where
what they say isn't nearly so
important as that they’re saying it.
None of the big boys has to have
something so ridiculous as a title
for his column. His own name is
quite enough.
It must be a unique result of
having a free society.
Imagine, kiddies, our favorite
columnists as citizens in a few
other countries around the world.
See Mr. Buchwald jabbing
playfully at Chairman Comrade
Gorbachev.
See the Soviet public laughing
uproariously at its leaders, and for
just a moment daring not to take
life (and government teaching) so
seriously.
See the KGB agents coming to
take Mr. Buchwald away to the
gulag.
Listen as Mr. Baker's bones
stretch on the rack for suggesting
(gently, of course) that Cel
Khadafy is a buffoon.
Watch Mr. Anderson disappea
into the night as masked terrorists
kidnap him for reporting on the
guarded secrets of the Ayatollah's
holy regime.
See Mr. Will riddled by machine
gun fire from Nicaraguan soldiers
dedicated to "protecting the people
from the evil of imperialist
capitalist lies."
So much for that.
As screwy as this country is
sometimes, it does allow these
people to poke fun, probe and pass
judgement at, on, over and all
through everything that makes up
thi§ mishmash that we af-
fectionately call the land of the free.
And there are many others, William
F. Buckley Jr., Jeane Kirkpatrick,
Bob Greene and James Kilpatrick
being just a few.
Okay, so just where do I jump in
on this saturated market of super-
writers?
Hey, 1 have no clue. All I'm
armed with is determination and a
decidedly opinionated nature.
Besides, I’ve been toiling in news
and other dry stuff for several years
now while watching Jeff Berger
have all the fun with his "Speaking
of Which" column.
Watch out, syndication. Here 1
come.
HONDO ANVIL
HERALD
Published at 1601 Ave. K, Hondo,
Medina County, Texas.
Entered at the Post Office, Hondo, TX
as Second Class Mail.
Published every Thursday in Hondo, TX
by Associated Texas Newspapers, Inc.
William E. Berger, President.
Frances Reitzer Proctor, General Manager
Jeff Berger, Sports Editor
Douglas Johnson, Reporter
Mary Jo Rummel Peters, Adv. Director
Anna Corona, Advertising Sales
Sharon Reagan, Adv. Sales & Photo.
Johnny Silva, Photographer
Betty Haile, Ad Compositor
Billie Ann Burrell, Ad Compositor
Brenda Sowers, Typesetter
Beatrice Koch, Classified Ad Manager
Sue Lee, Business Manager
Cathy Walton, Bookkeeper
Tony Mendoza, Production Supt.
Nora Sanchez, Production Assistant
DEADLINES:
Advertising Copy — 5 p.m. Tuesday
Editorial Copy - 6 p.m. Tuesday
Classified Ad Copy -- Noon Tuesday
The Castroville Anvil, Est. 1886
The Hondo Herald, Est. 1891
Consolidated - Oct. 17,1903
The LaCoste Ledger, Est. 1915
Consolidated -- June 1,1951
Any erroneous reflection upon the
character, standing or reputation of any
person, firm or corporation which may
appear in The Anvil Herald will be cor-
rected upon being brought to the attention
of the publisher.
No charge is made for publications of
notices of church or other public gath-
erings where no admission is char-
ged. When admission is charged or when
goods or wares of any kind are offered for
sale, The Anvil Herald's special advertis-
ing rates will apply.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
In Medina Co. - $10.51 per year
In Texas - $15.77 per year
(Tux included)
Oyt of State - $'20 per year
<
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
The Hondo Anvil Herald, P. O. Box 400,
Hondo, TX 78861
512-426-3346
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Hondo Anvil Herald (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 101, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 12, 1987, newspaper, February 12, 1987; Hondo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth818554/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hondo Public Library.