Seminole Sentinel (Seminole, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 102, Ed. 1 Sunday, October 6, 2002 Page: 4 of 16
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PAGE 4, Seminole (Texas) Sentinel. Sunday, October 6. 2002
Sunday’s
CEditoriais, CoCumns
7\ > Pntwcr uoo
400 S. Mii/n
* 'Inuul: scntincli^nwl.tict
Letters
‘Photic: (0/5)
tate Capital Highlights
Compiled by Mike Cox, Texas Press Association
* Lottery Goes Through
0L Four Chiefs in 11 Years
AUSTIN — This week’s lottery number For one, it’s expensive, at least in Jomparison
is tour. That's the number of executive
directors the Texas Lottery Commission has
had since it was created 11 years ago,*
Gary Grief, formerly the agency’s
director of operations, is the new acting
director follow ing the resignation of Linda
Cloud who admitted that she had lied to a
newspaper reporter.
Cloud resigned Sept. 26, though she w ill
remain on the state payroll burning unused
leave until the end of the year.
Farmers market
Insurance used to be something most
people took for granted or ignored. No more.
Farmers Insurance’s announcement that
it would quit doing business in Texas, which
is 20 percent of its market, underscores the
fact that insurance is not routine any longer.
with what it used to co’st. For another, it often
doesn't cover what consumers think it
should.
Insurance Commissioner Jose
Montemayor made two moves on Oct. 2 that
should make getting coverage somewhat
easier for consumers: He expanded the Texas
Windstorm Insurance Association, w hich had
included only 14 coastal counties and a part
of Harris County, ;o include the w hole state.
He also activated the Fair Access to
Insurance Requirements Plan (FAIR), which
enables property insurers to combine to
provide coverage for insurable homes in
undfcr served areas.
Both programs, however, are intended
to be last resorts. To qualify under the FAIR
plan, homeowners coverage would have to
nave been rejected by two licensed
companies.
Montemayor said the actions were
intended to create s temporary safety net until
the Legislature convenes.
Meanwhile, the Farmers move clearly
annoy ed some members of the Legislature.
State Sen. Troy Fraser, a Republican
from Horseshoe Bay, has said he’s prepared
to introduce a bill that would bar insurers
from selling any product if they abandon a
segment of the market.
Coming up with a state budget still will
be the biggest issue facing lawmakers in
January, but insurance, from business
practices to rate regulation to mold coverage,
will be on the legislative radar as well.
The budget buzz
They’re talking but it doesn’t sound
good. 1
“I’ve been with the state 33 years,’’ one
of the 250,000 or so state employees said.
“I’ve heard a lot of concern about tight
budgets. This is the first time I’ve really been
worried.”
From another state government watcher:
“There’s going to be a special session.
They’re not going to pass a budget during
the regular session.”
Signs of the time
With the election only a month away,
the only thing proliferating any faster than
campaign rhetoric is the number of campaign
signs.
Cardboard-signs stuck into the ground
are a basic part of the political process, but
it's still illegal to place them in the ground
or on any object in the right of way of a state
road and along many cities’ roads.
Over-enthusiastic volunteers need to
remember that the misdemeanor offense
could bring up to a $500 fine per sign.
According to the Texas Department of
Transportation, it is okay to place signs on
private property adjacent to state highways,
but only if the landowner has given
permission!*
Such signs have to be lightweight and
less than 50 feet square. They must be
removed within 10 days following the
election.
Under the law. TxDOT can remove any
signs it finds on public right of w ay and bill
the owner for the costs.
Texas Tales
Making a Difference
Are You A Gosip?
Of Course Not...
by Gina C aswell Kelly
Are you a gossiper ' Of course you are not Nobody is going to ever
admit that they are a big gt*s*ip But do you know people who gossip’
Again, of course you do. We all know people who gossip We all know
people who always seem to know something about everyone They always
seem’to have the latest and have “very reliable sources.”
Why do you think people want to gossip ’ I think there are lots of reasons
Some people like to talk about the shortcomings of others because it makes
them feel a little better about themselves \\ hen you know someone who is
a little less well behaved than yourscll. you just somehow teel a little superior,
huh .'After all. we could all be acting like they are acting but we have chosen
a higher road which does not include behavior such as theirs, but
unfortunately does include gossip
Then there are those who are really not gossiping at all No sir. these
wonderful souls have chosen the path ot the “prayer need " Ihey are not
mentioning the deeds ot others!anest record included and what drinks were
served Mo be maligning the charat ter ot any mdiv idual I hey are mentioning
it (with all details included and more available upon request 1 so that all
those w nhin hearing range land there are many 1 are better able to oiler up a
prayer on the poor misguided soul’s behalt l h-huh
Some people gossip and don't realize they are gossiping Really, they
are only being hclptul They teel that perhaps the individual in question
doesn't really understand what a horrible predicament thev are about to get
themselves into and need someone to tell their neighbor in hopes that the
neighbor will bring over adv ice and pie to aid the poor mdiv idual in getting
back on the straight and narrow or sometime* it is the neighbor who tcels
that perhaps the needs ot the’one n£xt door exercising such poor judgment
would best he served by going to vorious places of business and sharing the
heinous deeds which have perhaps been committed to those in places of
service so that the very pewm who changes your tlat or sacks your groceries,
could also guide you back on the tight patti I houghttul indeed’
Seriously, much harm is done to people w hen talk (low» so freely Most
of the time the gossip you hear ts not true at all think really hard before
you listen to what someone wants to tell you \ good clue is. if it starts with
“You can’t breathe a word ot this “ Stop them right there and say “If I don't
know it I won’t tell it. so don 1 tell me l >ur time would be much better
spent pray mg for our friends and each other that (tod w ill guide our actions
as well as our tongues It is hard to gossip while pray mg’ Ihmk about it
Texas State Fair Had
Serious Rival in Waco
By Mike Cot
The State Fair is a Texas
institution, but during the first three
decades of the 20”' century, millions
of people headed to the big doings in
W aco each fall, not Dallas.
Now practically forgotten, the
Cotton Palace rivaled the State Fair
and showcased Waco for the world
up until 1930.
The wife of a Waco Iawyer-a later
history identifies her only as Mrs.
r-may havi
person to articulate the idea of an
event highlighting the cotton
industry.
“Why not a Cotton Palace at
Waco, the Queen City of the
Brazos0’’ she asked in a Waco
newspaper on Jan. 23. 1890.
Mrs. Taylor and others had heard
of a successful annual fair in
Nebraska called the Com Palace and
thought the concept would work in
Texas. Nebraska had plenty of com.'
and Texas, especially Waco, had
plenty of cotton. In fact, it was the
largest inland cotton market in
Texas and one of the largest in the
South. Some 120,000 bales of cotton
were void in the city in 1893
It took the Cotton Palace idea
little longer to germinate than a good
cotton crop. With an organizational
structure in place by 1894, plans
were drawn for an exhibition hall in
Waco’s Padgett Park.
The fair opened on November 8
that year and ran until December 6
Gov. James Stephen Hogg was on
hand for the inaugural ceremonies,
and thousands of visitors made the
event a success.
The 1894 fair might have been
the beginning of a long run excerpt
for what happened in Jan. 19. 1895:
The ornate frame “palace" built the
year before caught fire and burned
down as “ten thousand Wacoans
d w<
Despite the success of the first
fire, it took another 15 years for the
Cotton Palace to bloom again. This
time, which a big new palace and
numerous other buildings covering a
12-acre site in Padgitt Park, the fair
took root.
Beginning in 1910. the fair
ran for the next 21 years, becoming
one of the most successful such
events in the nation. Attendance
grew with the extent of events. In
1912, former Waco mayor Robert
Ross, an old Indian fighter and Civil
War veteran, brought a delegation of
Huaco Indians to the fair from
Oklahoma The Indians set up their
tepees on the fair grounds and
dances on a
schedule each day.
During World War 1. with 10,000
soldiers at Waco’sCampMacArthur.
the military offered sham battles and
warplane flyovers. All time record
one-day attendance came on Nov. 3,
1923, when 117.208 visited the lair
The coronation ot the Cotton
King and Queen was the city’s
premier social event.
The annual Cotton Palace
festivities went on until 1930. when
the Depression wilted the cotton
market and most other aspects ot the
existence
Nkorld War II revitalized the
economy Waco became the largest
producer of military tents during the
conflict-but the city’s importance as
a cotton center declined and the
Cotton Palace was history .
The only reminder ot the fair in
nation’s economy. The fair closed Waco is a monument in Cameron
on Oct. 19 that year for the final Park made trom the cornerstone of
time. An estimated 8 million people the old palace,
had visited the fair during its 21 -year
The Seminole Sentinel
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Entered as Second Class Matter at the Seminole. Texas, Post Office. Seminole, Texas
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Letter to the Editor
. To The Sentinel Staff and Community at Large,
This is my first letter to the editor. 1 hope it is my last. The Sentinel,
issued Sunday, September 29, 2002 carried.a front-page article asking the
question, “Who Lives In Your Neighborhood?” One of the men listed as a
sex offender and whose life and past activity is carelessly painted with a
universal and four-foot wide brush is my friend. Part of the blame for such
labeling lies within our legal system as no room is given for distinction as
to action. The remaining blame lies at the feet of poor journalism that seeks
no interviews and reviews no court records. I hope the intention was void
of malice and sought only to provide public information. However, the ar-
ticle was inflammatory and damaging. Suspicion and gossip flow from this
type of callous dissimulation of information.
I sat in my office with my friend on Saturday evening after the release of
the paper. We prayed together and we cried together. What the article does
not say is that this particular individual’s mistake occurred 13 years ago.
He won’t even call it a mistake. My friend states, “A mistake is when you
reach for the salt and knock over your drink, I made a poor decision and I
was wrong.” He would, in humility, disclose the particulars of his “poor
decision" should anyone care to ask him. But to sit down face to face with
an individual and ask them about their life story would actually constitute
being neighborly would it not? My friend works in our fellowship of be-
lievers in whatever capacity is asked. He serves with excellence and humil-
ity of spirit. He and his family are valuable members of this community.
The character of an individual’s life is not measured in an old “snapshot,”
but rather in movies that evidence life lived over time. My friend’s will
stand the test of time.
Sorrowfully,
Loimy D. Poe
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Fisher, David. Seminole Sentinel (Seminole, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 102, Ed. 1 Sunday, October 6, 2002, newspaper, October 6, 2002; Seminole, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth825048/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Gaines County Library.