Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 242, Ed. 1 Friday, October 12, 1990 Page: 2 of 26
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Hopkins County Area Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Hopkins County Genealogical Society.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
A-2—THE NEWS-TELEGRAM, Sulphur Springs, Texas, Friday, October 12,1990
WOO 3J9AJIAVAT20I
editorials..
SUM
/•
A vote against
is a terrible option
Too often, when voters are asked why they support a
certain candidate, they justify their stand by saying,
“Well, I sure don't want to vote for the other one.”
We're hearing that frequently already as regards the
Texas gubernatorial race. Certainly, Ann Richards and
Clayton Williams have their legitimate supporters. But
there is now a very disturbing prospect that the winner in
November won’t emerge on the strength of their backers,
but on the votes of those who “just can’t vote for the
other one.”
This is, of course, a tempting course, because it often is
easier for voters to decide what they don’t want than it is
to figure out what they do want from a candidate. It is
part of human nature to look more to the ngative side of
the ledger when weighing such decisions.
It’s also usually easier to find one action or opinion on
which you disagree with a candidate and when such an
issue is found it often is more emotionally charged th^tn a
positive position.
And there
lere are times, too, when the candidates don’t
give enough information on which to base a sound deci-
sion.
What's a voter to do? There are no easy answers, but
the right to vote also carries with it a responsibility to ex-
amine candidates as best you can and try to make an
overall decision on which candidate would be best in any
particular race.
It’s not enough to say “I’m unhappy with that person,
so I’ll vote for anyone but them.” Sucn a rationale is a lit-
tle like jumping out of an airplane without finding out if
you have a parachute. Without a chute, you might have
been better off staying in the crippled plane.
The opinion page
What became of merit studies?
By William A. Rusher
Say what you will about the Ameri-
can system of public education, it
was, as Herbert Hoover said of prohi-
bition. ‘an experiment noble in pur-
pose." The states would offer an edu-
cation to all children alike in schools
maintained at public expense. From
these, or private schools accredited
bv the state and meeting similar stan-
dards. our youngsters would emerge
to take up their roles as responsible
citizens. Thus would the cultural val-
ues of our American heritage be
transmitted down the years to gener-
ations yet unborn.
It hasn't worked out quite that way
For one thing, the Supreme Court in
1954 took judicial notice of the fact
that the "separate but equal" school
facilities provided by many states for
black and white schoolchildren were
in fact very far from "equal.” A long
effort was begun to insure equal edu-w
cational opportunities for whites and
blacks by insisting that they attend
the same schools. But this effort has
been only partially successful, and
even where it is successful the educa-
tional results for the two races are
rarely the same. The dropout rate for
black students is much higher, and the
grades of those blacks who stay the
course are often sharply lower
Moreover, the same is true of col-
lege scores. It-is not too much to say
that the problem of what to do about
the discrepancy is one of the most
critical issues facing the nation today.
From the legislature of California
there have now emerged two bills,
proposing solutions that differ in de-
tail but are alike in principle One —
AB 462, introduced by Assemblyman
Tom Hayden, commands all three
segments of California public higher
education to approximate, by the
year 2000, a diverse student body
Plastic talk in politics
By Vincent Carroll
Neil Bush, call a psychologist. Your
problem has been identified. You've
got an “ethical disability" that may
require a few long sessions on the
couch to clear up
. “Through an ethical disability, a
lack of skill in seeing ethical issues, he
(Bush) naively violated moral stan-
dards,” intoned a professor of busi-
ness at the recent federal hearing on
Bush's role as director of Silverado
Banking, Savings and Loan.
"Persons with this handicap are not
well-equipped to be directors (of a
savings and loan)," the University of
Colorado scholar sagely testified —
briskly adding, lest anyone misunder-
stand. that “the handicap does not ab-
solve them of responsibility."
One day later. Bush himself took
the stand, but the professor remained
unimpressed _
“My opinion is that honesty is a cen-
tral component of Mr Bush's identi-
ty.” the professor told a reporter.
Uincent
Carroll
1
"But Mr. Bush is not skilled in spot-
ting and analyzing conflicts of inter-
est. and that's what has gotten him
into deep trouble '
Leave it to someone from acade-
mia to inject the language of a thera-
pist into a mundane (if celebrated)
case of alleged conflict of interest.
Why couldn't the professor simply
have said the following: “Neil Bush
seems to be an honest fellow, but he’s
either stupid or naive if he doesn't
think his behavior as Silverado direc-
tor involved conflict of interest"?
Such clear language is considered
vulgar in this age of the expert opin-
ion. Educated folk prefer to sound
Letters to the editor
The public forum
Taste of success
.Editor, The News-Telegram:
; On behalf of the Hopkins County
: United Way, we want to take this
opportunity to extend our apprecia-
tion to a lot of folks who helped
•..make the 4th annual 1990 United
■(Way Kickoff, “THE GOOD
/TASTE OF HOPKINS COUNTY”,
;( a success.
•( Many food establishments of-
;. fered their time and a large quantity
•(of food in order that we might have
/this function again.
/ We also want to thank those who
attended and supported1 this
•; fundraiser. Please remember to
*! support these restaurants who con-
::tributed to such a worthy cause.
/They are an important asset to our
% community.
•: A special thanks to the Rhythm
•(Masters Band who donated their
time and made our function so en-
joyable with their music.
We have had an overwhelming
response to this recent event and
we hope we will be able to do it
again next year.
Jeff Orwosky
Chairman
Hopkins County United Way
Help appreciated
Editor, The News-Telegram:
On behalf of the D-Fy-It
program, we would like to thank
you on the really great article you
put in the paper on OcL 5. We like
the thought of everyone knowing
that we are taking a stand against
drugs. We’re going to try as hard as
we can to get this program going.
Thanks again for your help.
Sincerely,
Yantis D-Fy-It
clinical, scientific and. if possible,
tantalizingly obscure — which often
results in their serving up a farrago of
therapeutic and legalistic claptrap.
In adopting this style, of course,
they often promote the debasing no-
tion that everyone is a victim, that no
one controls his own destiny. Al-
though the professor may insist he
meant otherwise — "the handicap
does not absolve (Bush) if responsibil-
ity” — the fact is that most of us treat
people with genuine disabilities with
greater understanding and sympathy.
If Bush has an “ethical disability,”
then whatever he did is not quite his
fault.
I don't mean to hammer too hard on
this example, except that it proves
how sloppy language and contrived
complexity corrupt fundamental
meaning. As John Silber. the Demo-
cratic nominee for governor in Mas-
sachusetts, would say, the professor
“talks plastic."
Silber, by the w^y. offers hope that
some Americans have had enough of
plastic talk. Not only does this former
academic (a great irony, that) refuse
to mince words, he is thriving politi-
cally as a result. He's called his state
a “welfare magnet," described politi-
cians as brainless incompetents and
suggested to the elderly that “when
you’ve had a long life, and you’re ripe,
then it's time to go."
Most office-seekers, public figures
and professional experts would rather
chew on soap than echo such clarity.
It is simply not considered civilized in
some quarters to state an observation
in forceful, colorful language.
What do you suppose today’s mush-
mongers would have made of A1 Ca-
pone? “Mr. Capone is confused about
the ethical-difference between defeat-
ing a competitor fairly and extermi-
nating him. A person with Mr. Ca-
pone’s handicap is ill-equipped to
remain on the right side of the law."
Or. as Dion O’Bannion said after a
1920s rub-out: “I’m sorry it happened.
It was just a piece of hotheaded
foolishness."
Put Jhat way, Capone merely
sounds like a candidate for a seminar
in self-control. Talking plastic is not
only insidious, you see. It’s often
ridiculous.
© 1990 NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN
lililliam R.
Rusher
which mirrors the composition of re-
cent high-school graduates, both in
first-year classes and subsequent col-
leges and university graduating class-
es, for individuals from historically
and currently underrepresented or
economically disadvantaged groups."
This amounts to a flat legislative
order to California public colleges
and universities, first to admit and to
graduate a student population which
"mirrors" the proportion of "under-
represented or economically disad-
vantaged groups" among recent high-
school graduates.
AB 3993. introduced by Assembly
Speaker Willie Brown, would go even
further in enforcing “comprehensive
equity goals in higher education" It
requires enhanced success at all edu-
cational levels so that there are simi-
lar achievement patterns among all
groups regardless of ethnic origin,
race, gender, age. disability or eco-
nomic circumstances." It directs ev-
ery college and university in the state
to "implement programs to facilitate
higher graduation rates” for individ-
uals belonging to "underrepresented
groups.”
If signed byuGovernor Deukmejian.
which surely they will not be, these
appalling pieces of legislation would
quite simply spell the end of the 200-
year American experiment in public
education
Out the door would go the very no-
tion of merit of superior perfor-
mance. Replacing it would be a crude
simulacrum of the ethnic composition
of the state of California, clutching
degrees awarded, not for academic
/CHECK
OUT THESE
MAPPLETHORPE
\T PHOTOS!
achievement, but simply as gaudy
decorations distributed to various
groups in precise proportion to their
numbers in the total population.
In these bills, equality of opportuni-
ty has been jettisoned quite openly in
favor of equality of result. It reminds
one of the reason Lord Russell said he
' enjoyed awarding the Order of the
Garter: “There’s no damned merit
about it."
Thoughtful Americans had better
take the warning of these two bills to
heart. They are not the private wish-
lists of a pair of crackpots; they have
been officially enacted by the legisla-
ture of the nation’s largest state, and
all thaCstands between them and the
authority of law over 10 percent of
the country's population is the veto of
Governor Deukmejian
Truly, it is later than we think.
© 199(1 NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN
me
Maybe Gorby can't do it
By Jack Anderson
and Dale Van Atta
WASHINGTON - Mikhail Gorba-
chev is looking more and more like
the sacrificial lamb for his own altar.
It is no secret that the breathtaking
changes he has brought about in the
Soviet Union have won him more
praise abroad than at home. Soviet
citizens, crushed under an economic
cave-in, are unimpressed by the Gor-
bachev revolution “Make it work,”
his people seem to be saying.
Maybe he can’t.
Gorbachev’s fans in the West are
quick to blame his foibles on his con-
servative rivals, or on bureaucratic
deadbeats and even on stereotypical
Soviet sloth.
But Gorbachev has tied his own
hands without the help of his detrac-
tors. He appears paralyzed at the
prospect of championing one cause
over another. Even as Soviet legisla-
tors have written him a blank check
to make reforms at will, it is far from
certain whether Gorbachev will mus-
ter the initiative.
How is it that the new Soviet messi-
ah could fumble so momentous a
mandate? ,
Gorbachev is hamstrung by the
very qualities that brought him to
power. He is a creature of the system
that he now seeks to dismantle. That
system is doomed, to be sure, but Gor-
bachev. as its undertaker, may be
buried with it and its founders.
Gorbachev's personal political phi-
losophy has long-since parted ways
with communist dogma, but its influ-
ence still hobbles him. What matters
is not his new ideas, but the fact that
his tutelage under the old order is
keeping him from leading under the
new order.
Jack
Rnderson
■ m -
I_!
The problem is that while Gorba-
chev's heart and mind boldly invoke
perestroika and glasnost, his party
underpinnings tell him to vacillate,
compromise and procrastinate.
It isn’t a character flaw. It’s his
conditioning. Gorbachev rose through
the ranks of an exclusive club where
one stroked egos, slapped backs and
only stabbed them if absolutely nec-
essary. His expertise, like that of the
men who went before him, was in cut-
ting deals and consolidating power in
the corridors of the elite. Survival re-
quired compromise and sleight of
hand, all to placate rivals so they
would not unseat him from thd top.
The only change that the Kremlin
was ever interested in was a change
of autocrats.
It was never necessary to inspire
popular support because the populace
didn’t matter.
This byzantine approach to power
instilled some artful skills in Gorba-
chev. By most accounts, his deftness
enabled him to slip rudimentary re-
forms past the party’s old guard as it
nodded off.
But if the foundation of reform is
democracy, then Gorbachev’s skills
won’t get him from here to there.
Gorbachev’s limbo tells us a lot
about the impotence of the system
that sired him. For all the five-year
plans that litter Soviet history,
change was never part of the sche-
matic. Preservation of power was.
The irony that was unnoticed by so
many fearful Westerners during the
Cold War is now clearer: Soviet auto-
crats could only envy the power
wielded by the elected leaders of
Western democracies. The commis-
sars could decree changes, but they
couldn't make them work.-They could
crack the whip, but no one would be
sent scampering. They could push,
but they could not lead because they
didn’t know how.
Gorbachev was recently given a
free hand to effect a 500-day plan to
reach a relatively unbridled market-
style reform. However, he probably
won't act boldly enough to pull it off,
despite the fact that his country is in
crisis.
It is more likely that the sword by
which he came to power will be
turned against him. after cutting a
swath for those with bolder ambi-
tions. The prophet of a new Soviet so-
ciety won’t get to taste the fruits of
his own labor. Like a modern-day Mo-
ses, he’ll see only a glimpse of the
promised land. Unlike Moses, Gorba-
chev may not even get the credit.
His epitaph may simply say that he
opened the floodgates. But even at
that, he will have been a worthy
sacrifice.
Copyright 1990. United Feature Syndicate. Inc
Write solution to locker room hassle
/ By Lewis Grizzard
/ There's a simple solution to this thing
/about women sportswriters in men's
((locker rooms.
/ Sportswriters, male and female,
should just quit going to locker rooms.
/ Sportswriters used to watch ball
games and then just wrote what hap-
; petted. They wertj critics, many of them
(.brilliant.
£ But then somebody got the idea to go
; into locker rooms after the games were
(-over and ask coaches and players what
(■ they thought happened.
Quotemarks suited getting in the way
•( of good writing.
(( Covering a football game isn *t exactly
£ like covering a budget crisis. A guy runs
(* with the ball and another guy tries to
Uke his head off. What's to ask?
•( I was a sportswriter in a previous life.
;( I never heard a good question asked in
;(a locker room except for the time a
(•.coach answered an inquiring
sportswriter with a question of his own.
Lewis
Grizzard
That question went, "What are you
asking me for? Didn’t you see the
game?”
Sportswriters are notorious for asking
stupid questions in locker rooms.
Once,11 asked a Georgia Tech football
player who had intercepted a pass and
ran it back for a touchdown, “ Whaj were
you thinking while you weite running
down the field?” i ^
He answered, “Nothing.”
What did I think he was thinking?
Whether or not Hitler made a mistake
by invading Russia?
Sometimes sportswriters ask other
sportswriters dumb questions. My
former colleague, Frank Hyland, of the
Atlanta Journal used to cover the
Braves.
He asked the great Henry Aaron a
question Aaron didn't like.
Aaron happened to be eating a can of
strawberries at the time.
He threw the strawberries into
Hyland's face.
Later, I asked Frank, “What did you
think when Aaron hit you with the
strawberries?”------------------——
He answered, “I was thinking, ‘Hey,
these are pretty good strawberries.’ ”
I hated going into the locker rooms
when I was covering sports. They were
hot and crowded and smelly and I could
never get used to interviewing large
naked men.
I always felt I was invading their
privacy and I could never shake the
notion that interviewing large naked
men was a lousy way to make a living.
If I were Lisa Olson of the Boston
Herald, I’d tell my editor, "Listen, I can
write better than those guy (the New
f
England Patriots) can talk. I'll cover the
games and when they are over, I’ll write
what I saw and what I think about it."
Besides, who wants to read some
born-again wide receiver saying, “Well,
you know, first of all, you know, I want
to thank, you know, my personal Lord
and Savior, Jesus, you know, Christ.”
I think spottswriting would be a lot
better if today's writers had to rely on
their own abilities to put words together
instead of simply regurgitating the
boring quotes of the coaches and ath-
letes they talk to in quarters that are for
bathing and dressing, not press con-
ferences.
Lisa Olson has every right to do her
job, So let her do it.
Write, Lisa. Be a critic, not a quote-
taker. Show us some wit and bite and
don’t worry about missing any interest-
ing locker room quotes.
Jockstrap eloquence is a rare thing,
indeed.
1990 by Cowles Syndicate. Inc
Berry's World
* vT 1990 by NEA inc
"Do you believe there will be a recession ?”
i
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 242, Ed. 1 Friday, October 12, 1990, newspaper, October 12, 1990; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth824310/m1/2/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.