TBN Community Service

Andy Adams, Editor • (936) 631-2623 • [email protected]

March 21, 2013 Texas Better Newspaper Contest judges, Thank you for considering our entry in the Community Service category. We took what we thought was a small and obvious step toward improving the content of our daily Opinion page: We asked people in the community to write monthly columns. We figured at least a couple people would take us up on it; as it so happened, nobody turned us down. Now, as a result, we have more than two dozen local columnists, from the mayors in our county to the head of the local NAACP and the city fire chief. All six of our county's school superintendents now have a monthly presence on our editorial page. So does the head of the charter school. And the community college president. And the CEOs of both major hospitals in town. We realize you don't have time to read all the columns we've included as part of our entry, but notice the diversity we've added to our Opinion page — all from local officials and citizens. And take a look at the side-by-side columns written by a leading local Democrat and a leading local Republican within a couple days of the presidential election. Those two columns, as you might expect, generated even more content for the page, in the form of letters to the editor. Many of the new columns have had a similar effect. Almost all of the local columnists have continued to hit their deadlines in the six months since we started our campaign to bulk up an editorial page that, in all honesty, had become stale. Thank you so much for taking the time to judge this contest. We appreciate it.

Andy Adams Editor

THE

LUFKIN NEWSLUFKINDAILYNEWS.COM(936) 632-6631

The FirsT AmendmenTCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 2Dopinion

luFkindAilynews.comsundAy, sepTember 2, 2012 the lufkin news

Be nice to allConcerning Kathy Dorsett’s letter regarding

Chick-fil-A and admiring Mr. Cathy for standing up for his Biblical beliefs:

Yes, everyone has a right to say what they feel, but talking about gays? This does not seem very Christian to me. Gays have the right to do what they want. You know they are human beings just like everyone else; they shop, eat and pay bills like we do, but their lifestyle is different I admit. But it is not any of our business what they do. I have a suspicious feeling there are those “regulars” as you think they are but you do not know what goes on behind closed doors! Gay rights are coming and let’s not forget how ugly people were years ago about drinking out of the water fountains. That changed and this will too. Would you not love your child if he or she were gay? I love mine and always will. Think about it. You just said it — everyone has the right to their own beliefs and Mr. Cathy should just let it go. Serve it up and be nice to all.

Mary Bietel, Lufkin

Perhaps they’ve forgottenPerhaps they have forgotten the planes flying

into buildings, the people jumping from buildings to escape the inferno. Perhaps they have forgotten the parade of people across our TV screens hold-ing pictures of loved ones, hoping against hope that someone had seen them. Perhaps they have forgot-ten the Priest that lost his life because he took his hard hat off to better hear a dying mans’ confes-sion. Perhaps they have forgotten.

The Democratic National Convention recently refused to allow a Cardinal to bless their conven-tion; however they will be hosting Islamic “Jumah” prayers for two hours. Their convention will be held Sept. 3-6, the two hour prayer will be held Aug. 31 at the DNC according to their flyer.

The choice has become abundantly clear for this election, we continue down the road of politically correct amnesia or we look back to 9/11. That day we were proud to be Americans, not ready to cower to anyone. That day is now a memory. In Septem-ber 2011 the doors opened to a mosque in clear view of the 9/11 site and on Aug. 31 they will be heading up the Democratic convention.

We have come a long way since the days of stand-ing in line for hours to give blood; we are past the nights of candlelight vigils, our flags are tucked away now. I wonder if down deep inside of you if you get that twinge of something is so wrong here. That you feel that this is the ultimate slap in the face to our 9/11 heroes, this is a line you just cannot cross, the one time that you say, to hell with politi-cally correct.

Just 10 days before we remember 9/11, the Demo-cratic convention will be headlining their conven-tion with a two hour Muslim prayer.

Carolyn Hileman, Lufkin

Andy AdamsEditor

Jeff PownallNews Editor

Stacy FaisonAssistant News Editor

Denise HoepfnerFeatures Editor

Josh HavardSports Editor

Jeannie CookAdvertising Director

Jennifer BessBusiness Manager

Billy RicksProduction Director

Robin NevillsCreative Services Manager

Jenniffer RicksCirculation Director

Today we begin a series of changes to our daily Opinion page that we hope will make it a much better place for our readers to discuss

what’s happening in our community.For starters, we have extended invita-

tions to a number of community lead-ers — elected officials, school superin-tendents, agency heads, etc. — to write monthly columns on what’s happening in their world. We begin today with a guest column from Guessippina Bonner, presi-dent of the Lufkin branch of the NAACP, and we hope to quickly be able to have at least one locally written column on the Opinion page every day (not counting Saturdays, when we replace the page with our weekly Religion section). Since we mailed the invitations this past week, the response has been fantastic: As of Friday, nobody had turned us down yet.

Be watching for those columns; we’re working to schedule it so that each writer appears on roughly the same day — the second Wednesday, for instance — each month. It’s going to be a great place for local officials to keep the public informed or rail against an injustice occurring in our community.

In the meantime, here are two other changes you’ll notice immediately:

■ While we plan to keep the daily “Today in History” nuggets we get from the Associated Press, today we begin what we think will be even more interest-ing to our readers: a daily “Headlines in Local History” compiled by Louis Land-ers at The History Center in Diboll. He’s been scouring the front pages of The Lufkin Daily News from a year ago, 10 years ago and 20 years ago to come up with the headlines. The History Center is one of two places in Angelina County (Kurth Memorial Library in Lufkin being the other one) where you can still pore through microfilm of our old newspapers, but it takes time to go through them, and we cannot say thanks enough to Landers and Jonathan K. Gerland, director of The History Center, for their willingness to provide this service.

■ Our daily FYI question and answer is becoming a weekly FYI column, to be written by Steve Knight, our city and county government reporter. Steve has done a great job of answering some great questions from the community; now you’ll be able to put a name and face on his answers every Thursday. As always, you can submit an FYI question to [email protected] or by calling our FYI hotline at 632-6637. Steve will pick three or four of the best questions to answer each week.

To make room for these changes, particularly the guest columns that we’re so excited about, we will have to stop run-ning many of the national columns that we have been publishing. If you enjoy a particular syndicated column, or want to see a particular syndicated columnist hit the road, let Editor Andy Adams know at [email protected] or 631-2623.

Again, we appreciate the local offi-cials and citizens who will be joining the conversation with a monthly column. We would like to see the columns spur more involvement in the way of local letters to the editor, as well. This is your Opinion page, and we hope you enjoy the upgrades.

ChangesLocal officials’ monthly columns should make

page more relevant

Take that lemon and make some lemonadeOne would be hard

pressed to have a con-versation with any

African-American, i.e. black person, that would not lament about one form of oppression or another. It is certainly not the opinion of this writer that racism, classism and any oth-er “ism” you would name has disappeared from America.

Having said that, one sug-gestion is to read Tavis Smiley’s July 17, 2000, mes-sage to black people where he offers 21 points for self-empowerment. Smiley is controversial him-self; however, these statements are worth repeating and certainly worth contemplation. A sampling of those points are certainly appropriate today:

■ Register to vote, or shut up!■ Learn another language; ebonics does not

count.■ Buy something each week from a black vendor.■ Stop blaming white folks for 98 percent of your

problems, while giving them 100 percent of your money.

■ Stop walking past each other and not speaking or making eye-contact.

■ Be on time for something — anything!■ In all these ways acknowledge him (God) and

he shall direct thy path.■ Stop being jealous of one another, learn to

look past the material things and see the person for who they are, not what our society or TV says they should be.

■ Say a prayer for someone besides yourself.■ Get involved in at least one charitable or volun-

tary community service.■ P.U.S.H!!! Pray Until Something Happens!■ In all that you do, get and give understanding. ■ Change the game.Yes, the road may be difficult. Yes, it might be

uneven sometimes and yes, you might be knocked down. But, black people, you have choices. Every-one has choices. You can continue to blame some-one else or stand tall like our ancestors and con-tinue to push this ball of equality. Never would our forefathers have believed that they died, tolerated degradation and sacrificed many of their dreams for their descendants be unable, unwilling and not prepared to take their places.

Langston Hughes, in his poem “Life for Me Ain’t Been No Crystal Stair,” says it best when he points out metaphorically about the tacks in the stair, the splinters, and missing boards. No one said it would

be easy. Obstacles are for character building, not whining.

Take a look at what Tavis says. There are some things you can do for yourself, black people. There are some pro-active steps you can take. When you make these preparations, obstacles such as racism, sexism, ageism and any other “ism” you want to call it will not attack you character, will not attach your self-esteem, will not make you lose faith in the God that put you on this earth — ‘‘for such a time as this (from the Bible — Book of Ruth).

To make lemonade the lemon has to be squeezed. So when society, government or anybody squeezes you in any way, they are just trying to make lemon-ade. Why waste your time trying to get revenge? To get revenge means you have to stop what you are doing and where you are going to wait on the per-son who caused you pain before you move on.

That is a waste of time. You could lose days, months or years waiting. Take your lemonade and share it with someone on a warm East Texas sum-mer day.

Listen to Tavis. Do something for yourself be-cause you are guaranteed only one trip through this life. It is your choice: Hold your lemons or make lemonade.

Dr. Guessippina Bonner’s email address is [email protected].

leTTer To The ediTor

TodAy in hisTory

heAdlines in Local hisTory

mAllArd Fillmore By Bruce Tinsley

Liberalism, as we know it today

Have your sayTo submit a letter to the editor, bring it to us

at 300 Ellis Ave. in downtown Lufkin, mail it to P.O. Box 1089, Lufkin, TX 75902-1089, or visit an easy-to-use form at lufkindailynews.com/let-ters. Or you can email your letter to [email protected].

Please limit your letters to 350 words.Be sure to include a daytime telephone num-

ber on your letter.All letters are subject to editing for length

and clarity, and unsigned letters will not be used. We will only publish one letter per writer during a 30-day period.

The Associated Press

Today is Sunday, Sept. 2, the 246th day of 2012. There are 120 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Sept. 2, 1945, Japan formally surrendered in

ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II.

On this date:In 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt of-

fered the advice, “Speak softly and carry a big stick” in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair.

SEPTEMBER 2one year Ago

■ lufkin firefighters Capt. Bill wafer and Joe Burton leave to help battle north texas wildfire.■ the Angelina College Board of trustees hosts its second & final public hearing about a proposed tax rate increase and no one from the community attended the hearing.

Ten years Ago■ lufkin federal savings & loan Association signs agree-ment to sell stock worth $3 million to simon henderson iii and Virginia winston.■ state Representative Billy Clemons opposes east texas Aids Project applying for $400,000 federal aid.

Twenty years Ago■ lufkin city commissioners approve $2 million city budget with residents paying same taxes but higher water rates.■ lufkin isD board of trustees votes unanimously to terminate the contract of Benny lowe, high school & Junior high school tennis coach.

from the pages of the lufkin Daily news, compiled by the history Center, www.Thehistorycenteronline.com

WASHINGTON — With Americans, on average, worth less

and earning less than when he was inaugurated, Barack Obama is requesting a second term by promising, or perhaps threatening, that prosperity is just around the corner if he can practice four more years of trickle-down government. This is dubious policy, scatter-ing borrowed money in the hope that this will fill consumers and investors with confidence. But re-cently Obama revealed remarkable ambitions for it when speaking in Pueblo, Colo., a pleasant place Democratic presidents should avoid.

After delivering in Pueblo what would be his last extended speech, Woodrow Wilson suffered a collapse that prefaced his disabling stroke. And in Pueblo this summer, Obama announced what should be a disqualifying aspiration.

After a delusional proclamation — General Mo-tors “has come roaring back” — Obama said: “Now I want to do the same thing with manufacturing jobs, not just in the auto industry, but in every in-dustry.” We have been warned.

Obama’s supposed rescue of “the auto industry” — note the definite article, “the” — is a pedal on his political organ he pumps energetically in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and elsewhere. Concerning which:

He intervened to succor one of two of the Ameri-can auto industries. One, located in the South and elsewhere, does not have a long history of subser-vience to the United Auto Workers and for that reason has not needed Obama’s ministrations. He showered public money on two of three parts of the mostly Northern auto industry, the one long entan-gled with the UAW. He socialized the losses of GM and Chrysler. Ford was not a mendicant because it was not mismanaged.

Today, “I am GM, hear me roar” is again losing market share, and its stock, of which taxpayers own 26 percent, was trading last Thursday morn-ing at $21, below the $33 price our investor in chief paid for it and below the $53 price it would have to reach to enable taxpayers to recover the entire $49.5 billion bailout.

Roaring GM’s growth is in China. But let’s not call that outsourcing of manufac-

turing jobs, lest we aggravate liberalism’s current bewilderment, which is revealed in two words it dare not speak, and in a four-word phrase it will not stop speaking. The two words are both verbal

flinches. One is “liberal,” the other “spend.” The phrase is “as we know it.”

Jettisoning the label “liberal” was an act not just of self-preservation, considering the damage liber-als had done to the word, but also of semantic can-dor: The noble liberal tradition was about liberty — from oppressive kings, established churches and aristocracies. For progressives, as liberals now call themselves, liberty has value, when it has value, only instrumentally — only to the extent that it serves progress, as they restlessly redefine this over time.

The substitution of “invest” for “spend” (e.g., “We must invest more in food stamps,” and in this and that) is prudent but risky. People think there has been quite enough of (in Mitt Romney’s words) “throwing more borrowed money at bad ideas.” But should progressives call attention to their re-cord as investors of other people’s money (GM, Solyndra, etc.)?

In 1992, candidate Bill Clinton’s campaign ran an ad that began: “For so long government has failed us, and one of its worst features has been welfare. I have a plan to end welfare as we know it.” This was before progressives defined progress as preventing changes even to teetering, rickety, half-century-old programs: Republicans “would end Medicare as we know it.”

When did peculiarly named progressives decide they must hunker down in a defensive crouch to fend off an unfamiliar future? Hoover Dam ended the lower Colorado River as we knew it. Rockefeller Center ended midtown Manhattan as we knew it. Desegregation ended the South as we knew it. The Internet ended ... you get the point. In their bale-ful resistance to any policy not “as we know it,” progressives resemble a crotchety 19th-century vicar in a remote English village banging his cane on the floor to express irritation about rumors of a newfangled, noisy and smoky something called a railroad.

Given Democrats’ current peevishness, it is fit-ting that Sandra Fluke will address their conven-tion. In February she, you might not remember, became for progressives the victim du jour of America’s insufficient progress. She was a 30-year-old-student — almost half way to 62, when elderly Americans can begin collecting Social Security — unhappy about being unable to get someone else (Georgetown University, a Catholic institution) to pay for her contraceptives. Say this for Democrats: They recognize a symbol of their sensibility when they see one.

George will writes for the washington Post.his email address is [email protected].

Greg ShraderPublisher

GeorGe will

GuessippinA bonner

jpownall

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The FirsT AmendmenTCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.


Andy AdamsEditor










You know what they say: If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.

Nov. 6 is the red-letter date for the future of our country and, to some extent, our commu-nity. That’s the day of the 2012 general election, when voters across America will pick our next president and voters across Angelina County will pick our next sheriff, in addition to some other elected officials.

Your vote, as always, is impor-tant. But you can’t vote if you’re not registered, which is why we support Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade’s reminder to Texans that September is Na-tional Voter Registration Month.

“Voting is every Texan’s op-portunity to make their mark on Texas’ future,” she said in a statement this week. “Register-ing is the first step in the voting

process. I urge Texans to check their voter registration status at VoteTexas.gov and learn about how, when and where to register and vote.”

The deadline to register to vote in Texas in time to be able to participate in the Nov. 6 general election is Oct. 9. If you’re not sure whether you’re registered, or need information on the pro-cess, visit VoteTexas.gov or call the Angelina County Tax Asses-sor/Collector’s Office at 634-2690.

Early voting in Texas runs from Oct. 22-Nov. 2. The deadline to request a ballot by mail is Oct. 30.

If you’re 18 years old (or will be by Nov. 6) and want a part in a number of important decisions for our country and county, then make sure you’re registered to vote. Otherwise, you’re wasting an incredible privilege.

Register to VoteMake sure you’re good to go before Nov. 6 general election

FYI: What’s penalty for damaging mailboxes?Q : People are going around our

neighborhood hitting mailboxes and leav-

ing them dented and unusable. Is it a crime to dam-age mailboxes, and what is the maxi-mum sentence if caught?

A: Mailboxes are considered federal property, and fed-eral law (Title 18, United States Code, Section 1705) makes it a crime to vandalize them or to injure, deface or destroy any mail deposited in them. Violators can be fined up to $250,000, or imprisoned for up to three years, for each act of vandalism.

Postal inspectors recommend these actions to protect your mailbox and any mail that may be inside it:

■ Immediately report theft, tamper-ing or destruction of mail or mailboxes to your postmaster. You’ll be asked to complete some forms which will help the Postal Inspection Service determine whether your problem is isolated, or one

frequently experienced in your neigh-borhood.

■ Obtain Label 33 from the Postal Inspection Service and affix it to your mailbox. The sticker warns that willful damage to mailboxes and theft of mail are crimes.

■ Keep your mailbox in good repair, and make sure it’s properly installed. This may help prevent theft of the mail-box itself.

Q: I recently received a letter stating I won a lottery in another country. Is this legitimate?

A: According to postal inspectors, a new scheme involves letters being mailed from Canada to U.S. residents announcing that the addressee has won a foreign lottery. A counterfeit Postal Service check is enclosed in each letter with instructions to wire a portion of the money outside the country after deposit-ing the check. If you believe you have re-ceived a check related to a sweepstakes or lottery, do not accept the check. Call the Postal Inspection Service at (877) 876-2455.

Q: Are there animal adoption pro-grams in Lufkin?

A: Yes, both the Kurth Memorial Animal Shelter, at 1901 Hill St., and the Humane Society of Angelina County, at 1102 N. John Redditt Drive, have dogs and cats available for adoption. The Kurth Memorial Animal Shelter’s adop-tion fees are $60 for all ages of cats and dogs, which includes first shots exclud-ing rabies, first worming and spaying or neutering. For more information, call 633-0218. Pets adopted through the Hu-mane Society of Angelina County are spayed or neutered, wormed and cur-rent on vaccinations. Dogs have been tested for heartworms and cats have been tested for feline leukemia. All po-tential adopters must complete an appli-cation and meet adoption requirements. Adoption fees range from $65 from $100. For more information, call 639-1880.

Stumped? Ask us. The FYI column is designed to let readers email (to [email protected]) or call in (to 632-6637) questions you want answered, whether about road construction, how-to tips, trivia or other information.

You do not have to leave your name. You also can use that email address or phone number to give us a news tip — anonymously, if you’d like. (We do not have Caller ID on the phone line.)

VFW sponsors many activities

To start our first column for The Lufkin News, all the elected of-ficers and

members of the ladies auxiliary would like to say thank you to all those that support Veterans of For-eign Wars Post 1836 with its local veter-ans including small and large business-es, restaurants, de-partment stores, pharmacies, doctors and attorneys and the great people of our community.

We would also like to let everyone know that on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays we have bingo night for the pub-lic and everyone is welcome to come out and enjoy themselves. The doors open at 5 p.m. On Saturdays we have a country dance and the doors open at 6 p.m.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1836 also observes significant military holi-days and events each month. In Septem-ber these include Patriot Day on Sept. 11, which is an annual observance to re-member those who were injured or died during the terrorist attacks in the Unit-ed States on Sept. 11, 2001; POW/MIA Recognition Day on Sept. 15, which is a time set aside to remember those who were prisoners of war and those who are

missing in action, as well as their fami-lies; and on Sept. 29, the anniversary of the establishment of Veterans of For-eign Wars in 1899.

Each event begins at 8:30 a.m. at VFW Post 1836, 1800 Ford Chapel Road, in Lufkin.

We would like to invite all veterans who are not members of VFW to join us, including veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraqi, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Somalia — in other words, all the men and women who served overseas in combat areas. Dues paid by the membership of Veterans of Foreign Wars enables VFW to accomplish to-gether what they could not accomplish apart.

Those veterans that would like to join us, please bring your DD214 so we can keep a copy on file at the VFW office. Many veteran’s families want to have a military funeral when a member passes away, but have a problem finding the DD214. The VFW keeps a copy on file for each member for their convenience.

As Commander of Post 1836, I want to say thank you again to all of you for your support and for thinking of us. When you see a veteran, say “Thank you!” to him or her for their service.

You don’t know how good this makes veterans feel.

Alfred Navarro Sr. is the commander of VFW Post 1836 in Lufkin. The post phone number is 634-4133.

TOdAY in hisTOrYHave your say

To submit a letter to the editor, bring it to us at 300 Ellis Ave. in downtown Lufkin, mail it to P.O. Box 1089, Lufkin, TX 75902-1089, or visit an easy-to-use form at luf-kindailynews.com/letters. Or you can email your letter to [email protected].

Please limit your letters to 350 words.

Be sure to include a daytime tele-phone number on your letter.

All letters are subject to editing for length and clarity, and unsigned letters will not be used. We will only publish one letter per writer during a 30-day period.

No thanks for troops?Isn’t it sad that in a speech running

over an hour Gov. Romney could not find a place to acknowledge the service of our 88,000 troops serving in Afghani-stan? Not even a simple “Thank you.” Shame on you, sir.

Buddy Temple, Lufkin

No weather complaints“No complaints about the weather

this year in the Lufkin area”After the record setting heat we had

in East Texas in 2011, along with the drought and area lakes drying up, 2012 has seemed like heaven. We’ve had am-ple amounts of rain every month so far this year and close to 7 inches in July, where I live in Lufkin. (I collect rain gauges as a hobby.)

Sure, we’ve had hot days this year but nothing like last year and the nights have been cooler as well. It’s been an amazing year. Things were looking bleak for the environment in 2011, but Mother Nature shows how it can rebound, and we’re

looking good heading into the fall, with cooler temps predicted for next week.

Now all I have to do is plant some bluebonnet seeds, and start getting my veggie/flower garden prepared for next years’ planting. Life is good again!

Mars Axis, Lufkin

SEPTEMBER 6One Year Ago

■ More than 100 attend the Lufkin Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Col-ored People’s annual Red Beans & Rice luncheon held in Brandon Park.■ Homes are being evacuated in Nacogdoches County as 500 acres burn.

Ten Years Ago■ Mixed results in anti-terrorism war a year after Sept. 11.

■ Nacogdoches Friends of the Library celebrate 30th anniversary.

Twenty Years Ago■ Shortages hampering Deep East Texas Council of Governments housing program: too few homes and too little manpower to inspect the ones it has.■ Miss Texas Forest Festival Candidates includes Cynthia Beers, Tenesha Morris, Leigh Ann Teer, Jana Cloonan, Kellie Laird and Tara Watson.

From the pages of The Lufkin Daily News, compiled by The History Center, www.ThehistoryCenterOnline.com


Today is Thursday, Sept. 6, the 250th day of 2012. There are 116 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Sept. 6, 1997, a public funeral was

held for Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey in London, six days after her death in a car crash in Paris.

On this date:In 1757, the Marquis de Lafayette, the

French hero of the American Revolu-tion, was born in Auvergne, France.

In 1861, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant occupied Paducah, Ky., during the Civil War.

In 1901, President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by an-

archist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-Amer-ican Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. (McKin-ley died eight days later.)

In 1916, the first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, was opened in Memphis, Tenn., by Clarence Saunders.

In 1948, Princess Juliana of the Neth-erlands was inaugurated as queen, two days after the abdication of her mother, Queen Wilhelmina.

In 1966, South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was stabbed to death by an apparently deranged page during a parliamentary session in Cape Town.

In 1970, Palestinian guerrillas seized control of three U.S.-bound jetliners. (Two were later blown up on the ground in Jordan, along with a London-bound plane hijacked on Sept. 9; the fourth

plane was destroyed on the ground in Egypt. No hostages were harmed.)

In 1972, a memorial service was held at the site of the Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, a day after the deadly terrorist attack that had claimed the lives of eleven Israelis and five of their abductors.

In 1985, all 31 people aboard a Midwest Express Airlines DC-9 were killed when the Atlanta-bound jetliner crashed just after takeoff from Milwaukee’s Mitchell Field.

In 1991, the Soviet Union recognized the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Russian lawmakers upheld a decision by residents of Leningrad to restore the city’s pre-revolutionary name, St. Petersburg.

mALLArd FiLLmOre By Bruce Tinsley

3aopinionLuFkindAiLYnews.COmThursdAY, sepTember 6, 2012 THE LuFKIN NEWS

LeTTers TO The ediTOr

heAdLines in Local hisTOrY

sTeve knighT

ALFred nAvArrO sr. Take State Highway 79 southbound out of Wichi-ta Falls and,

after about 30 miles of wide-open coun-tryside, you’ll find yourself in Archer City, Texas. Home to some 2,000 souls, you might say it takes a certain amount of bravado to call yourself a city. Then again, this little town on the Texas prairie knows something about artistic license.

Archer City has been a source of cre-ative merit that extends far beyond its borders. This is the home of legendary novelist and screenwriter Larry Mc-Murtry.

The 1971 Academy Award-winning film ‘‘The Last Picture Show,’’ written by Mr. McMurtry, was filmed there. A native son of Archer City, Mr. McMur-try became a household name across the country with the publication of Lone-some Dove. The book went on to win a Pulitzer Prize and a place of pride on bookshelves across Texas.

Small though it may be, Archer City is no stranger to big things; and until a few weeks ago, perhaps nothing in town

was bigger than Mr. McMurtry’s book collection. At roughly 450,000 volumes, the books outnumbered the residents by over 225-to-one. Sprawled across shelves throughout four buildings, these tomes comprised Booked Up, Inc., the used bookstore owned and operated by Mr. McMurtry since 1987.

A humorous Q&A on Booked Up’s Web site www.bookedupac.com/index gives a glimpse into the operation:

Q. How are the books arranged?A. Erratically/impressionistically/

whimsically/open to interpretationQ. Do you have a list of these books?A. No.Q. Are the prices negotiable?A. The price in the book is the price

you pay. Recently, however, Mr. McMurtry,

now 76, decided it was time to downsize from four buildings to one. Noting that the upkeep of the store would one day fall upon his heirs, he told the New York Times, “One store is manageable. Four stores would be a burden.”

So on a characteristically scorching August weekend, Mr. McMurtry auc-tioned off 300,000 of his volumes. Over 150 people from all corners of the coun-try came to Archer City for the auction. Like Larry McMurtry, many were fel-low collectors and used bookstore own-

ers. Some made the pilgrimage just to witness the event.

The majority of the books were sold in lots of 100 to 200 volumes, with individu-al books hand-picked by Mr. McMurtry auctioned separately.

By all accounts the sale was a success, and in the ensuing days 300,000 books departed Archer City for new homes. As for Booked Up, it’s alive and well, running a somewhat leaner operation with 150,000 volumes in one building. And while the book-to-resident ratio of Archer City may have dropped, this me-tropolis of hardbacks and paperbacks is still a worthy destination for anyone on a trip across north Texas.

Sources Booked up, Inc. www.bookedupac.com, Horowitz, Mark.

“Larry McMurtry’s Dream Job.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 1997. Williams, John.

“Wanted, Dead or Alive: used Books.” The New York Times. The New YorkTimes, 12 Aug. 2012. Tsiaperas, Tasha.

“A Buyers from across u.S. Flock to Archer City for Larry McMurtry’s Book Auction.” The Dallas Morning News. The Dallas Morning News, 11 Aug. 2012.

Sen. John Cornyn serves on the Finance, Judiciary, Armed Services, and Budget Committees. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immi-gration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.

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Excerpts from recent editorials in Texas newspapers:

Houston Chronicle. Stop defending voter ID and discrimina-tory districts

Yesterday, when a federal court blocked Texas’ voter ID law, the three-judge panel didn’t mince words. The state’s evidence that the law doesn’t discriminate against minorities, it said, was “unpersuasive, invalid, or both.”

That assessment sounded eerily like a different federal-court ruling earlier this week. In that one, an entirely dif-ferent three-judge panel ruled, again unanimously, that Texas’ redistricting plan for Congress and the state Legis-lature “was enacted with a discrimina-tory purpose.”

Texas Attorney General Greg Ab-bott vows to appeal both decisions to the U.S. Supreme Court. We urge him to drop both matters now — for the sake of democracy, of Texans’ tax dol-lars, and of the Republican Party.

First, and most idealistically, there are basic issues of democracy and fairness: Every American who’s over 18 and not a felon should be able to vote, and every vote should carry equal weight. As the Chronicle reported earlier this week, in argu-ing that the redistricting plan doesn’t violate the Voting Rights Act, Abbott contended that the districts weren’t intentionally drawn to discriminate against Hispanics or blacks, but to consolidate Republican power. Demo-crats would argue that in the real world, blacks and Hispanics tend to vote for Democrats. But even if that’s not the case, should Texas defend districts blatantly drawn to favor one party?

At least the voter ID law taps into a nobler sentiment: Our voting system must be safeguarded against fraud.

But the fact is, the number of docu-mented attempts to cheat the system is tiny and the incidents are isolated. And in trying to prevent those few, scattered crimes, this law would do far more harm than good: It would risk disenfranchising the tens of thou-sands of registered Texas voters who are poor and do not drive.

In Texas it’s not easy to get an of-ficial state ID if you don’t have a car or if your job isn’t flexible. As Mark P. Jones, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute, has pointed out, near-ly one in three Texas counties lacks an operational Department of Public Safety office, and many of those of-fices are exceedingly hard to reach on foot or via public transit. Once there, waits of two to three hours are not uncommon, and the cost of obtaining an ID without a birth certificate is $22. That much time and money consti-tutes a significant barrier to voting.

Second, there’s the matter of using Texans’ tax dollars to appeal those cases to the Supreme Court. Continu-ing that fight, when there are many better uses for our attorney general’s time and budget, amounts to grand-standing.

And last, there’s the long-term damage that Abbott could do to his own party, which hopes to woo the fast-growing Hispanic vote.

In Texas, of all places, does Abbott really want to defend a redistricting map that dilutes the electoral strength of Hispanics, even as his party scrambles to cultivate them? Or to ar-gue that the few, scattered incidences of voter ID fraud are worth disenfran-chising many Hispanics?

It’s time to drop these cases.———

Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The Texas table is tilting toward vouch-ers

The way things look now, four months out from the beginning of the next session of the Texas Legislature,

private school vouchers will be back on the table for debate.

And it looks like several heavy-weight state officials will be sitting on that side of the table, tilting it their way.

Voucher plans, in which some parents have access to state money to help send their kids to a private school, didn’t play a big role in the 2011 legislative session. But for several sessions before that, vouchers were a perennial favorite of some of the conservative Republicans who held the top leadership posts and a voting majority in both legislative chambers.

So, how did voucher proponents manage to lose on that issue every year? Strong lobbying from public school teachers, wise legislative maneuvering by opponents and reluctance among some Republicans to fully embrace the idea all played a role.

Now a lot of things are different, maybe different enough to see a voucher bill approved and sent to Gov. Rick Perry.

That would be a mistake. Vouchers would take badly needed money away from public schools.

But if the table is already weighted that way, maybe the best thing voucher opponents can do is figure out what kind of voucher bill they can live with and try to move the process in that direction.

In the past, some voucher propo-nents saw the strength of their opposi-tion or at least the weakness of their support and said all they wanted was a “pilot” program.

Or they avoided using the word vouchers altogether and said they were pushing for “opportunity schol-arships.”

But in the time since the legislative battle on vouchers was last joined, the Texas political landscape has changed dramatically.

The message from this year’s Republican primary elections was clear: Don’t just be conservative, be ultra-conservative, even Tea Party conservative.

Perry long has been a voucher proponent. Maybe even more than that, he’s an astute reader of the politi-cal wind. At the Republican National Convention, he again emphasized vouchers (“school choice” is the favored term).

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, smarting from his loss to Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz in the race for a U.S. Senate seat nomination, also pointed to his support for vouchers during a talk to convention delegates.

Perry has named former Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams to be the next head of the Texas Education Agency. Williams also supports vouchers. There are two big shoes still to fall. Dewhurst will name a new chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and House Speaker Joe Straus will pick a new leader of the House Public Education Committee.

Both committees have empty seats at the top.

One of Dewhurst’s options is Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston, who recently staged an Education Committee hearing in which voucher supporters began laying out their case.

Straus has been less vocal about vouchers, but compared to Perry and Dewhurst and Patrick and Williams, Straus is simply a less-vocal kind of guy.

Straus has said education will be at the top of his agenda for the legislative session.

It’s a safe bet there will be a strong push for vouchers next year. The bigger question now is how much strength the traditional opponents of vouchers will be able to muster.

RoundupA sampling of editorial opinion around Texas

Chartering a new education courseSo … what is a charter school?

I get asked this question a lot, and I’m al-

ways happy to an-swer. I understand the confusion, be-cause for 30 years I had spent my career working in several Texas inde-pendent school dis-tricts, and had no clue what a charter school was.

First and foremost, Pineywoods Char-ter School is a public school of choice. I suppose in this day and time every school is a school of choice, as there are so many alternatives to public school including private schools, home schools, and “virtual” schools that promote on-line learning.

What’s great is that there are so many wonderful public school choices in this area. Indeed, we are fortunate to be lo-cated in Lufkin, as there is a genuine student-centered focus among all of the districts in Angelina County.

As a charter school, we always hope to be a great choice for parents, but re-gardless I want every school in Ange-lina County to be successful. When any school is not successful, it means that there are students who are not getting the best education possible, and that hurts everyone.

Charters are taxpayer-funded public schools. The state of Texas funds char-ters based on enrollment, and PCA re-ceives a basic allotment of funds as well as additional funds for students with special needs, students in career and technology, and students in high school. We can’t levy taxes, so we are funded pri-marily through state tax dollars.

We use this one state allotment to pay staff, acquire and maintain facilities, and fund our curriculum and instruc-tion program.

Fortunately, our board long-ago ad-opted a very conservative approach to fi-nances, and the school’s finances are in great shape. Most charters fail because they don’t manage their finances prop-erly.

Charters are held to same account-

ability guidelines set for all Texas public schools, and PCA students are held to the same standards for STAAR, End of Course, and TAKS as every other school.

Our approach at PCA is that academ-ics come first, but with the caveat that “every test score is a student.” Tests are a necessary evil, and it’s easy to get swept away in the “race for ratings.’’ But it’s a focus on each child that helps keep us grounded, not simply to help students pass a test but to be ready for whatever challenges lie ahead.

At PCA we take very seriously the duty to prepare students to be produc-tive citizens. Former astronaut and Sen. John Glenn said it well when he has de-scribed public schools as the “personnel division for our democracy.” We know that for our great nation to thrive, public school educators must be in the business of teaching and modeling democratic principles.

As our motto “Ad vitam paramus” states, we are preparing students for life!

Bruce Marchand is director of Pineywoods Community Academy in Lufkin. His email address is [email protected].

Another irresponsible judicial decisionAs a taxpayer, wife, mother and

teacher, I have certain responsi-bilities on a

daily basis. If I fail to carry out these responsibilities I am held account-able, whether it be to the IRS, my fam-ily, or my students.

This morning I was skimming the headlines on CNN.com and ran across the following ar-ticle: “Massachusetts Judge Rules for Inmate’s Sex Change Surgery.”

Are you freaking kidding me? That has got to be the most irresponsible de-cision made by a man who is supposed to be accountable on a much higher level than even I am. I mean seriously, we have elderly people who are on Medicare, having worked all of their lives, and they are facing the dilemma

of whether to pay their electric bill or pay for their medicine. Meanwhile, a convicted murderer (this man killed his wife) is allowed the privilege of getting a sex change operation (because he is depressed) on taxpayer dollars. What an outrage.

This gender changing operation, ac-cording to CNN, will cost anywhere be-tween 30 thousand and 60 thousand dol-lars! Personally, I think Massachusetts’s taxpayers should be appalled that their hard-earned money is going toward something so frivolous, for lack of a bet-ter word. I nearly had a coronary when I read this article, and the guy doesn’t even live in our state.

But I guess that’s Massachusetts for you, super-liberal thinking — “poor convicted murderer; locked up in the slammer with his depressing gender identity.”

Don’t get me wrong; I am a compas-sionate person — where compassion is due. But I can’t stop shaking my head

in disbelief over this flagrant, irrespon-sible, ludicrous decision made by a judge who is supposed to be an intelligent per-son who should be making intelligent decisions. But no, while hard working citizens are worrying about their declin-ing standard of living, unemployment, health care issues, and budget cuts, a convicted killer is granted a major pro-cedure on behalf of the taxpayers. Must be nice.

This leaves me to wonder — I’m at the brink of menopause and gravity has done — well, what gravity does to some-one who is almost 50; perhaps I should move to Massachusetts, commit a hei-nous crime, say that I am depressed and that I am having a “crisis,” and maybe this judge will grant me the privilege of having some cosmetic surgery so I can feel better about myself. It’s just a thought.

Sylvia Weathers is a member of The Lufkin News’ Board of Contributors. Her email address is

[email protected].

TOdAY in hisTOrY


■ Lufkin ISD removes LP sign at Abe Martin Stadium after report shows deterioration at base of pole.■ Lufkin scores 42 points in first 13 minutes of football game against Nacogdoches, winning the game 69-14.

Ten Years Ago■ Local businesses plan to commemorate one-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

■ Angelina College enrollment reaches 5,000 for first time.

Twenty Years Ago■ East Texas gearing up for the 21st Annual Southern Hushpuppy Olympics in Lufkin.

■ Main Street Lufkin invites area flea market vendors to city’s 2nd Downtown Lufkin Fourth Saturday Flea Market and Sidewalk Sale.

From the Pages of The Lufkin Daily News, compiled by The History Center, www.ThehistoryCenterOnline.com.


Today is Monday, Sept. 10, the 254th day of 2012. There are 112 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Sept. 10, 1912, the jungle character

Tarzan made his debut as “Tarzan of the Apes” by Edgar Rice Burroughs was first published in The All-Story maga-zine. (The novel was published in book form in 1914.)

On this date:In 1608, John Smith was elected presi-

dent of the Jamestown colony council in Virginia.

In 1813, an American naval force com-manded by Oliver H. Perry defeated the

British in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.

In 1846, Elias Howe received a patent for his sewing machine.

In 1919, New York City welcomed home Gen. John J. Pershing and 25,000 soldiers who’d served in the U.S. First Division during World War I.

In 1932, New York’s Independent City Owned Rapid Transit Railroad, later known as the IND, began service.

In 1945, Vidkun Quisling was sen-tenced to death in Norway for collabo-rating with the Nazis (he was executed by firing squad in October 1945).

In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court or-dered the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, a black student.

In 1963, 20 black students entered Ala-bama public schools following a stand-off between federal authorities and Gov. George C. Wallace.

In 1972, at the Munich Olympics, the U.S. Olympic basketball team lost to the Soviets, 51-50, in a gold-medal match marked by controversy because officials ordered the final three seconds of the game replayed, enabling the Soviets to win; the U.S. protested, to no avail.

In 1979, four Puerto Rican nationalists imprisoned for a 1954 attack on the U.S. House of Representatives and a 1950 at-tempt on the life of President Harry S. Truman were freed from prison after being granted clemency by President Jimmy Carter.


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It’s Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 11, as we write this, and it seems a good time both to re-member the public servants

who gave their lives for America on 9/11 as well as those in our community who put their lives on the line every day.

A toast to the Moffett Volun-teer Fire Department for its quick response to the Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis given to one of its own, volunteer firefighter Eddie Sweet, just a few short weeks ago. Sweet suffered a seizure before the diagnosis and learned that he had seven lesions on his brain caused by the disease. A drug that costs $4,000 a month could help slow the disease’s progression, which is why the Moffett VFD is doing all it can to raise money to help their brother. If you’d like to help, contact Moffett VFD Chief Steve Lumbley at 465-0395.

A toast to the Senior Circle sewing club for mending items for the Lufkin Fire Department’s firefighters and EMS crew. The group’s latest project has been

assisting the fire department with the ceremonial shroud that’s placed on the fire apparatus during funerals. “Firefighters deliver help in the most difficult situations. The least we could do was help them with a few sew-ing needs,” Senior Circle sewing member Lola Carter said in a press release from Woodland Heights Medical Center. If you’d like to join the Senior Circle’s sewing club, contact Christie Maddux of Woodland Heights at 637-8687.

And a toast to Lufkin Lodge 381 of Woodmen of the World and the American Red Cross, the two organizations that on Tuesday held a brief ceremony to remem-ber 9/11 and to honor the first responders of Angelina County. A good number of representatives from our local police, fire and vol-unteer fire departments came out to participate, and we applaud the Woodmen of the World members for offering new U.S. flags to each of the agencies represented by the public servants.

Toasts & RoastsPaying tribute to those in our community who put their lives on the line every day

Hudson ISD embracing a new visionHudson ISD has embraced a “New

Vision” for the district. This vi-sion will

focus on five key goals: digital learn-ing, 21st century learning standards (academic and career), multiple forms of assess-ment, accountabil-ity that is not fo-cused on one state test, and trans-forming our school into a 21st century learning organization.

We will no longer purchase banners or plaques that imply we are a state recognized or exemplary campus based on one state mandated test! Parents will not see STAAR worksheets or test preparation materials. Teachers will not be referencing the tests in their class-rooms. Rigor, purpose, interest, talent, creativity, problem solving, innovation, real-world application, digital access, collaboration will transform classrooms into centers that promote students own-ing their learning rather than learning for a test!

What about “the test”? It has not dis-appeared, it is now on steroids! During the 82nd Legislative Session, the state as-sessment system, TAKS, was retired and STAAR was born for grades 3-8. STAAR

is elevated to 15 End-of-Course (EOC) exams for high school students, with 15 percent of the test score impacting the student’s course grade. These new tests are not basic knowledge skills tests. They are designed to measure college readiness for all students.

Ironically, colleges and universities never consider these tests as part of the admissions requirements. Colleges, as well as the business community, con-tinue to report our students are not pre-pared to enter either pathway. Students are lacking work ethics, technical skills, problem solving, collaboration, inquiry skills, research, etc. Why is the state in-creasing the focus on this state test when the past reflects the tests were not pre-paring our students for the future?

Sadly, these tests have become puni-tive instruments to evaluate teachers, campuses, districts without consider-ation of available resources, children’s interests or talents, the impact of pover-ty on closing academic gaps and the real world demands critical to the nation’s economy. Campuses and districts have been designated as low performing based on the performance of one sub-group on one test (math, reading, science, writing, or social studies) in one grade level. That same sub-group could have performed extremely well in another subject area in that same grade, having no impact on the campus/district rating. All other

sub-groups in other grades could have achieved exemplary performance, yet the campus would retain the rating of that “weakest link”! Voucher legislation that will be proposed during the next legislative session will be greatly influ-enced by the misrepresentation of these tests and ratings on our schools.

Hudson ISD will continue to expect students to meet the state standards; however, the state assessment will no longer drive our curriculum or instruc-tion. We have not lowered our student expectations; we have changed the fo-cus, a quality education for the 21st cen-tury. We are asking the community to support this new direction. The quality of our schools should be based on the many varied accomplishments of our students and the exemplary programs provided by our exemplary staff, not a state accountability rating based on state assessments administered prior to the end of the school year.

Our accountability should be deter-mined by our local communities, not the state or federal government. Our vision has become the HISD mission — to “fos-ter a community of life-long learners by providing an environment that builds self-worth, integrity, and respect for di-versity while striving for academic and social excellence!”

Mary Ann Whiteker is the superintendent of Hudson ISD. Her email address is [email protected].

Just who gets to do the taxing, spending?Within the past decade, I’ve writ-

ten columns titled “Deception 101,” ‘’Stubborn Ignorance”

and “Exploiting Public Ignorance,” all explaining which branch of the federal govern-ment has taxing and spending au-thority. So here it is again: The first clause of Article 1, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution, generally known as the “origination clause,” reads: “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.” Constitutionally and by precedent, the House of Representa-tives has the exclusive prerogative to originate bills to appropriate money, as well as to raise revenues. The president is constitutionally permitted to propose tax and spending measures or veto them. Congress has the authority to ig-nore the president’s proposals and over-ride his vetoes.

There is little intellectually challeng-ing about the fact that the Constitu-tion gave Congress ultimate taxing and spending authority. My question is this: How can academics, politicians, news media people and ordinary citizens continually make and get away with statements such as “Reagan’s budget deficits,” ‘’Clinton’s budget surplus,” ‘’Bush’s tax cuts” and “Obama’s spend-ing binge”? I know that the nation’s

law schools teach little about Framer intent, but I wonder whether they tell students that it’s the executive branch of government that holds taxing and spending authority. Maybe it’s simply incurable ignorance, willful deception, sloppy thinking or just plain stupidity. If there’s an explanation that I’ve missed, I’d surely like to hear it.

Seeing as a president cannot spend one dime that Congress does not first ap-propriate, what meaning can we attach to statements such as “under Barack Obama, government spending has in-creased 21 percent” and “under Barack Obama, welfare spending has increased 54 percent”? You ask, “Williams, are you saying Obama is without fault?” Let’s look at it.

Knowing which branch of govern-ment has the ultimate taxing and spend-ing authority is vital. No matter how Obama’s presidency is viewed, if we buy into the notion that it’s he whose spending binge is crippling our nation through massive debt and deficits, we will naturally focus our attention on the White House. The fact of the matter is that Washington has been on a spending binge no matter who has occupied the White House. In 1970, federal spending was $926 billion. Today it’s $3.8 trillion. In inflation-adjusted dollars that’s about a 300 percent increase. Believing that presidents have taxing and spending powers leaves Congress less politically accountable for our deepening econom-ic quagmire. Of course, if you’re a con-gressman, not being held accountable is what you want.

Let’s look at a minor case that demon-

strates Congress’ appropriation powers. The California Navel Orange Commis-sion is a government-sanctioned grower collusion that establishes production quotas so as to restrict supply in order to keep orange prices high.

In 1980, the Federal Trade Commis-sion was going to study such agriculture collusions, euphemistically called mar-keting orders, as a result of increasing criticism from economists, reformers in federal agencies, consumer groups and some orange growers. Big growers descended on Congress to protest the threat to their collusive behavior that an FTC study might create. Congress, as a part of its FTC appropriation, prohib-ited the agency from monitoring mar-keting orders. In November 1983, Con-gress started using a legislative rider to prohibit the Office of Management and Budget from spending any money to re-view marketing orders.

This example demonstrates that Congress has ultimate spending power and that when it suits favored interest groups, it will use it. Most members of our Republican-controlled House of Representatives say they’re against Obamacare. If they really were, they surely would attach a legislative rider or some other legislative device to the Department of Health and Human Ser-vices’ appropriation bill to ban spending any money on Obamacare; they have the power to. But they don’t have the politi-cal courage to do so, and their lives are made easier by the pretense that it’s the president controlling the spending. And we fall for it.

Walter Williams writes for Creators Syndicate.

TOdAY in hisTOrY

Shameful state of neglectOn Saturday, Sept. 8, I visited the

Glendale/Hillcrest cemeteries on Lufkin Avenue in Lufkin and was appalled to see the condition of the grounds. Grass knee-high in most areas, flat tombstones completely covered in grass. It is heart-breaking to see the tears of a 93-year-old after viewing her parents’ graves.

Most of the founding fathers of Lufkin are buried in these cemeteries (Mantooth, Chancey, Brookshire, Den-man, Barrett, Berry, Humason, Hunter, Kerr, Fuller, Glenn, just to name a few). Surely they deserve greater respect than a neglected cemetery. Is there a cem-etery association to oversee that these cemeteries are mowed at regular inter-vals? Shrubs at the entrance have never been cut back. I would think that surely the families of our deceased loved ones would contribute to a fund to maintain these cemeteries. Oh yes, please look at the far end of Hillcrest (Spanish graves). If that doesn’t bring a tear to your eyes.

As a volunteer who visits cemeteries weekly to record and photograph tomb-stones (www.findagrave.com) I can say, without a doubt, these two cemeteries are in the worst condition of any I have seen, and I have recorded in Polk, Tyler, Nacogdoches, Angelina, Houston, San Augustine and Jefferson counties. Even those cemeteries located so far back in the woods that you have to travel miles on dirt and gravel roads to reach, are very well maintained. This doesn’t say much for Angelina County that such large cemeteries located within the city limits of Lufkin should be so neglected.

Relatives and I went to Glendale this morning with a mower and weed-eater to clean the graves of our relatives.

As we were leaving the cemetery an individual drove up with a mower stat-ing he mows one time per month. Appar-ently this is not often enough. I would appreciate comments from other family members.

Judy Murphy, Lufkin


■ Chase Jesse, a 14-year old cancer patient, enjoys a shopping spree at Best Buy, courtesy of the local Make A Wish Foundation.■ Texas Forestry Museum plans for 10th Annual TREEmendous Celebration.

Ten Years Ago■ Local travel agents report many East Texans traveled on the one-year anniversary of the terror-ist attacks of 9/11, despite concerns for safety.■ 17-year old Lufkin man arrested for stealing

a truck at gun point and leading Lufkin police on chase.

Twenty Years Ago■ 4A school Jasper Bulldogs defeat 5A Lufkin Panthers in football game, 19-6.■ Lufkin Industries union workers refuse to vote on a company offer to reduce costs by paying workers eight hours pay for nine hours work. Be-cause of the rejection, company officials state they will cancel a $22.5 million order for trailers.

From the Pages of The Lufkin Daily News, compiled by The History Center, www.ThehistoryCenterOnline.com.


Today is Wednesday, Sept. 12, the 256th day of 2012. There are 110 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Sept. 12, 1942, during World War

II, a German U-boat off West Africa torpedoed the RMS Laconia, which was carrying Italian prisoners of war, Brit-ish soldiers and civilians. The German crew, joined by other U-boats, began res-cue operations. (On Sept. 16, the rescue effort came to an abrupt halt when the Germans were attacked by a U.S. Army bomber; some 1,600 people died while more than 1,100 survived. As a result, U-boat commanders were ordered to no longer rescue civilian survivors of sub-marine attacks.)

On this date:In 1814, the Battle of North Point took

place in Maryland during the War of 1812 as American forces slowed the ad-vance of British troops on Baltimore.

In 1846, Elizabeth Barrett secretly married Robert Browning at St. Maryle-bone Church in London.

In 1938, Adolf Hitler demanded the right of self-determination for the Sude-ten Germans in Czechoslovakia.

In 1943, German paratroopers took Benito Mussolini from the hotel where

he was being held by the Italian govern-ment.

In 1953, Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bou-vier in Newport, R.I.

In 1960, Democratic presidential can-didate John F. Kennedy addressed ques-tions about his Roman Catholic faith, telling a Southern Baptist group, “I do not speak for my church on public mat-ters, and the church does not speak for me.”

In 1962, in a speech at Rice University in Houston, President John F. Kennedy reaffirmed his support for the manned space program, declaring: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but be-cause they are hard...”

In 1972, the situation comedy “Maude” premiered on CBS.

In 1974, Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by Ethiopia’s military after rul-ing for 58 years.

In 1977, South African black student leader Steve Biko died while in police custody, triggering an international out-cry.

In 1986, Joseph Cicippio, the acting comptroller at the American University in Beirut, was kidnapped (he was re-leased in Dec. 1991).


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Thanks for caringCongratulations to Pinewood Apartments for

having a caring, concerned and devoted Education Coordinator! Thank you to Eva Lynch for seeking programs and other ways to help the adults and children of the Pinewood Park Community. She is cordial, kind and open to new ideas and programs. I enjoy being a part of your program education and spending time with Ms. Lynch and the residents and children of your community.

Karen Hetherington, Lufkin

Godless communistsIt is probably not true that all Democrats are

godless communists. It is not comforting that a ma-jority at the national convention probably are. It is beyond question that a two-thirds majority did not agree to re-insert the word “God” into the Demo-crat platform in the shameless farce of procedural maneuvering. America will see sad times when so many people have their hand in the government till that they will align themselves with godless com-munists in the fantasy that they can keep the gov-ernment money coming their way without becom-ing a slave to the government.

William D. Strinden, MD, Lufkin

Andy AdamsEditor










The federal Small Business Ad-ministration’s Office of Advocacy has just released some interesting statistics, based largely on the

most recent U.S. Census.According to the data, small businesses

(those having fewer than 500 employees) make up 99.7 percent of U.S. employer firms, 64 percent of net new private-sector jobs, 49.2 percent of private-sector employ-ment, 42.9 percent of private-sector pay-roll, 46 percent of private-sector output, 43 percent of high-tech employment, 98 percent of firms exporting goods and 33 percent of exporting value.

In 2010 (when our country did its last census), there were 27.9 million small businesses, compared to 18,500 firms with 500 employees or more. Most of the small businesses included in that big number are home-based businesses with no em-ployees other than the owner.

As important as industry is to our nation and the Texas Forest Country, it’s clear that small businesses — espe-cially those, in our minds, with between a handful of employees and 100 of them — are every bit as vital to the economy. We wanted to take a moment today to recognize, in particular, the five Angelina County employers who were honored ear-lier this month by being named finalists for the Lufkin/Angelina County Chamber of Commerce’s 2012 Small Business of the Year:

■ Angelina Rehabilitation Center — The center since 2003 has been serving the physical rehabilitation needs of patients in Angelina County, and in 2010 it moved into a new 22,000-square-foot facility on Lufkin’s west loop.

■ Audiological Services — The busi-ness that is owned and operated by Sally and Don Mulbach of Lufkin has been providing hearing health care for 17 years.

■ Integra Insurance Services — The business opened in 1983 in Huntington, but in 2001 it bought out Jim Waters Insur-ance, a 54-year-old company. Now it has more than 30 locations across the state, but its home base remains in Huntington and 80 percent of its staff lives there.

■ Lufkin Coca-Cola — Talk about the long-term impact a small business can have on a community: Lufkin Coca-Cola has been here for 107 years and was actu-ally a founding member of The Chamber.

■ Savvy the Agency — The firm began out of Houston 34 years ago, but has oper-ated here the past eight years.

We congratulate Audiological Services for being named the Small Business of the Year last Friday, and the other four companies for being nominated. All five are clearly good businesses, based on their track records, but they also do a lot of good for the community. The owners and employees of every one of them are active on the boards of local non-profit organiza-tions and/or spend a lot of time working on projects that benefit other people.

Small businesses have a relatively high failure rate — roughly 50 percent in the first five years, according to one chart we saw — but the ones that offer a good product and operate in the right way are of great benefit to both their employees and the marketplace. These five finalists for The Chamber’s annual award do it the right way, and we are happy for their success.

Small Business

Census statistics show just how vital small businesses

are to our economy

Take steps to help children succeed in schoolAs our children trudged

off to school a couple of weeks ago, I was

reminded again that no one is more excited to see our kids leave for classes than parents. I know this to be true from my own experiences as a parent. For the record, parenting is extremely hard work, and re-quires help from all parts of our community.

For my part, let me take this opportunity to reinforce all the important things you know your child needs to be successful in school.

Please just say to your precious child, “Well, Mr. Knight says ...”

■ You need at least eight hours sleep every night.■ The television and cell phone have no place in

the bedroom after bedtime.■ You get to watch one hour of television for ev-

ery hour of independent reading time (even Cow-boy games!)

■ Homework needs to be done in the same loca-tion of the home every night. (This ritual is particu-larly important.)

■ Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Get up early to eat.

■ If you want to be treated like an adult, set your own alarm clock and be adult enough to get your-self up. (This works best with junior and senior high students.)

■ Teenagers need to be home on school nights by 10 p.m. at the latest.

———To those parenting children, let me offer you

three pearls of wisdom:■ You are not the only parent requiring your

kids to follow household rules, despite what your

child may tell you.■ Never let your child confuse love with trust.

They should know that you love them uncondition-ally. However, trust must be earned. Never fall for that old guilt trip that begins with “If you love me, you’ll let me ...” Your response should always be “I love you more than life itself, but you must earn my trust to do what you ask.”

■ Facebook, Twitter and other social network sites require much supervision! Going to a social network site is akin to visiting New York City. There are many wonderful things to see and also many dangers.

If I can ever be of assistance to you and your family, please call my office at 630-4329 or at home at 637-2409.

I look forward to seeing you around the school-house this year.

Roy knight is the superintendent of lufkin isD. his email address is [email protected].


TodAy in hisTory



Tangled web of conflicting rights


Today is Sunday, Sept. 16, the 260th day of 2012. There are 106 days left in the year. The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, begins at sunset.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Sept. 16, 1857, the song “Jingle Bells” by

James Pierpont was copyrighted under its original title, “One Horse Open Sleigh.” (The song, while considered a Christmastime perennial, was actu-ally written by Pierpont for Thanksgiving.)

On this date:In 1498, Tomas de Torquemada, notorious for his

role in the Spanish Inquisition, died in Avila, Spain.In 1810, Mexicans were inspired to begin their

successful revolt against Spanish rule by Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and his “Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores).”

In 1893, more than 100,000 settlers swarmed onto a section of land in Oklahoma known as the “Cher-okee Strip.”

In 1908, General Motors was founded in Flint, Mich., by William C. Durant.

In 1919, the American Legion received a national charter from Congress.

In 1940, Samuel T. Rayburn of Texas was elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.


■ u.s. Postal service considers closing lufkin processing center.■ lufkin isD board votes to join financial suit against state. District will have to pay $10,500 for its part of litigation.

Ten years Ago■ hundreds attend final display of Museum of east texas Art Camp show 2002.■ lufkin lady Panther volleyball team drops both ends of a dual match, falling to hooks 11-15, 3-15 and liberty eylau 5-15, 10-15.

Twenty years Ago■ lufkin industries trailer Division plant gets reprieve — $23 million order will keep company open another year.■ lufkin city commissioners approve 5-2 to revive city ordinance that will allow clubs to open without a food-service requirement.

from the Pages of the lufkin Daily news, compiled by the history Center, www.Thehistorycenteronline.com.

WASHINGTON — Elaine Huguenin, who with her hus-

band operates Elane Photog-raphy in New Mexico, asks only to be let alone. But in-stead of being allowed a rea-sonable zone of sovereignty in which to live her life in accor-dance with her beliefs, she is being bullied by people wield-ing government power.

In 2006, Vanessa Willock, who was in a same-sex relationship, emailed Elane Photography about photographing a “commitment ceremony” she and her partner were planning. Willock said this would be a “same-gender ceremony.” Elane Photography responded that it photographed “traditional wed-dings.” The Huguenins are Christians who, for religious reasons, disapprove of same-sex unions. Willock sent a second email asking whether this meant that the company “does not offer photogra-phy services to same-sex couples.” Elane Photogra-phy responded “you are correct.”

Willock could then have said regarding Elane Photography what many same-sex couples have long hoped a tolerant society would say regarding them — “live and let live.” Willock could have hired a photographer with no objections to such events. Instead, Willock and her partner set out to break the Huguenins to the state’s saddle.

Willock’s partner, without disclosing her rela-tionship with Willock, emailed Elane Photography. She said she was getting married — actually, she and Willock were having a “commitment ceremo-ny” because New Mexico does not recognize same-sex marriages — and asked if the company would travel to photograph it. The company said yes. Wil-lock’s partner never responded.

Instead, Willock, spoiling for a fight, filed a dis-crimination claim with the New Mexico Human Rights Commission, charging that Elane Photogra-phy is a “public accommodation,” akin to a hotel or restaurant, that denied her its services because of her sexual orientation. The NMHRC found against Elane and ordered it to pay $6,600 in attorney fees.

But what a tangled web we weave when we un-dertake to regulate more and more behaviors un-der overlapping codifications of conflicting rights. Elaine Huguenin says she is being denied her right to the “free exercise” of religion guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and a similar provision in the New Mexico constitution. Furthermore, New Mexico’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act defines “free exercise” as “an act or a refusal to act that is substantially motivated by religious belief,” and forbids government from abridging that right except to “further a compel-ling government interest.”

So New Mexico, whose marriage laws discrimi-nate against same-sex unions, has a “compelling

interest” in compelling Huguenin to provide a service she finds repugnant and others would pro-vide? Strange.

Eugene Volokh of the UCLA School of Law thinks Huguenin can also make a “compelled speech argument”: She cannot be coerced into creating expressive works, such as photographs, which express something she is uncomfortable ex-pressing. Courts have repeatedly held that freedom of speech and the freedom not to speak are “com-plementary components of the broader concept of ‘individual freedom of mind.’”

A New Mexico court, however, has held that El-ane Photography is merely “a conduit for another’s expression.” But the U.S. Supreme Court (uphold-ing the right of a person to obscure the words “Live Free or Die” on New Hampshire’s license plates) has affirmed the right not to be compelled to be conduits of others’ expression.

New Mexico’s Supreme Court is going to sort all this out, which has been thoroughly reported and discussed by the invaluable blog The Volokh Con-spiracy, where you can ponder this: In jurisdictions such as the District of Columbia and Seattle, which ban discrimination on the basis of political affilia-tion or ideology, would a photographer, even a Jew-ish photographer, be compelled to record a Nazi Party ceremony?

The Huguenin case demonstrates how advocates of tolerance become tyrannical. First, a disputed behavior, such as sexual activities between people of the same sex, is declared so personal and inti-mate that government should have no jurisdiction over it. Then, having won recognition of what Lou-is Brandeis, a pioneer of the privacy right, called “the right to be let alone,” some who have benefited from this achievement assert a right not to let other people alone. It is the right to coerce anyone who disapproves of the now protected behavior into act-ing as though they approve it, or at least into not acting on their disapproval.

So, in the name of tolerance, government de-clares intolerable individuals such as the Huguen-ins, who disapprove of a certain behavior but ask only to be let alone in their quiet disapproval. Per-haps advocates of gay rights should begin to re-strain the bullies in their ranks.



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Andy AdamsEditor










Gas prices may be in the downward swing of their perpetual roller coaster, which may lead

to more people hitting the road for an out-of-town high school foot-ball game or other weekend event. If that’s the case, since most of us don’t have an electric car yet, the amount of harmful vehicle emis-sions is likely to rise.

The Texas Department of Transportation earlier this year introduced a Drive Clean Across Texas air quality campaign to encourage drivers in the Lone Star State to do what we can to cut down on air pollution from our vehicles. It’s a timely topic because, as part of the campaign, some lucky Texan will win a 2012 Ford Fusion Hybrid that has been donated by the Dallas Cowboys Football Club, and Sunday is the deadline to enter the online sweepstakes (at DriveClean-AcrossTexas.org).

Only one fortunate soul will win the hybrid car, however, which means the rest of us need to work to help Texas enjoy cleaner air. Here are some suggestions from the Drive Clean Across Texas campaign:

Keep your vehicle in top shape

Proper and timely maintenance of your car or truck will conserve fuel and reduce emissions.

■ Keep your car or truck engine tuned up to lower exhaust emis-sions.

■ Regularly change air and fuel filters and service air condition-ing.

■ Keep your tires properly in-flated; under-inflated tires require more energy (or fuel) to roll.

■ Seal your gas cap tightly, refuel during late afternoon or evening, and don’t “top off” the tank.

Lighten your load by empty-

ing your trunk of unnecessary items; extra weight decreases gas mileage.

Drive lessReducing the number of vehi-

cles on the road, especially during peak periods (rush hour,) means less traffic and less exhaust.

■ Combine your errands into only one trip.

■ Carpool, vanpool, or ride public transit.

■ Work an alternative/flex-time work schedule so you don’t have to drive in congestion.

■ Take a bicycle or walk when at all possible; it is good for your health, too.

Drive a “cleaner” vehicleWhen researching your next car

or truck, consider a fuel-efficient or low-emission vehicle such as a hybrid-electric model. For more information, visit www.fuelecon-omy.gov. Or, enter for a chance to win a new hybrid vehicle at www.DriveCleanAcrossTexas.org.

Drive the speed limitAt high speeds you’ll burn more

fuel per mile driven, thus creating more harmful pollutants in the air. It is safer to drive the speed limit, too.

■ Accelerate and decelerate slowly and smoothly.

■ Anticipate stops and coast to a stop gradually.

Reduce idlingIdling wastes gas. In fact, turn-

ing off the car and starting it again uses less gas than idling for thirty seconds or more.

■ Skip the drive-thru at the bank or fast food restaurant in favor of a quick trip inside.

■ Anticipate delays and take an alternative route to avoid stop-and-go or stand-still traffic, or travel earlier or later when congestion is less.

■ After starting the engine, do not warm it up; modern engines do not need it.

Quality AirDo your part to reduce harmful emissions being released into air by our automobiles

FYI: What are Huntington city salaries?

Q: What is the salary of the city ad-ministrator, city secretary, pub-lic works

director and waste-water plant direc-tor in Huntington?

A: According to City Secretary Betsy Gregson, the city adminis-trator’s salary is $56,641. The city secretary, who also serves as finance officer, human resources officer and of-fice manager, earns $48,339. The public works director’s salary is $49,920 and the wastewater plant operator, who is not considered a supervisor, earns $27,040.

Q: On a four-lane highway, isn’t it against the law to continuously drive in the left-hand lane?

A: Yes. According to Texas Transpor-tation Code section 545.051, an operator of a vehicle on a roadway moving more slowly than the normal speed of other vehicles at the time and place under the

existing conditions shall drive in the right-hand lane available for vehicles or as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway, unless the operator is passing another vehicle or preparing for a left turn at an intersec-tion or into a private road or driveway.

Q: Are there any doctors in Lufkin who accept Medicare or Medicaid?

A: You can start by accessing the “Physician Compare” tool online at Medicare.gov. You can enter a zip code and the type of doctor you’re looking for, then refine the search to specify that you want to see providers who accept the Medicare-approved amount as pay-ment in full or show all providers. To find a Medicaid provider, visit the Texas Medicaid and Healthcare Partnership at www.tmhp.com, where you can find a doctor, hospital or other provider by zip code or county. However, the systems are not foolproof, as some doctors may have retired or may not be accepting new Medicare or Medicaid patients. Ver-ify their acceptance the programs when making an appointment.

Q: Where is the closest Red Hat Soci-ety chapter to Lufkin, and how do I get in touch with them?

A: According to the organization’s website, the Red Hat Society is a glob-al sisterhood on a mission to give all women permission to step out of the demands of life and step into a world of giggles, sisterhood and fun. Members are made up of Red Hatters, those over 50, and Pink Hatters, those under 50. The organization’s privacy policy prohibits giving out chapter contact information to non-members.

For information to become a mem-ber, visit www.redhatsociety.com or call Hatquarters at (866) 386-2850 between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.



Citizens need to attend council meetingsHello, my name is Herman Wool-

bright, mayor of the city of Hun-tington.

First, I would like to thank The Lufkin Daily News for allowing me to have this space on their opinion page. I would like to re-mind all of our citi-zens and visitors of what a wonderful city we live in. The governing body of the city is made up of the mayor and five city council members, all of whom are fine upstanding, law-abiding citizens dedicated to the betterment of this city and the community.

We are blessed to have a city manager and city hall staff that other cities would be proud to have. We have a top-of-the-line volunteer fire department, dedicat-ed to the preservation of life and prop-erty in our community. We have a police

department that is second to none. Our housing authority is very well-kept and well-managed. We have the nicest nursing home that I have ever seen. We have two banks that are more than will-ing and able to help with your financial needs. Our public schools are some of the best, if not the very best in the state.

We also have plenty of places to shop, and a large number of churches if you wish to attend worship services.

I am not trying to say that our city is in perfect condition, because we are not. We still have a lot of work to do. We are trying to get our streets done, trying to keep all of the utilities in good working order, while at the same time trying to keep your tax rate and utility rates as low as possible. We in city government are here only to serve you the citizens.

Now, to the other side of the coin. It is my opinion that the Huntington grape-vine did not die along with all of the pine trees during last summer’s drought. It seems that a few of our concerned citi-zens are a little bit uneasy about how the

city is being run, so at this time I would like to extend a personal invitation to all of our concerned citizens to start attend-ing the council meetings on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 5 p.m.

At the council meetings you will be able to sign in on the public forum list, stand before the council, voice your con-cerns, ask your questions and get totally accurate answers. You will be able to hear reports from all department heads. It is my opinion that this is the only way for you to really understand what we are doing, why we are doing it and when. So let’s put the grapevine on the burn pile, light a match to it and let it go away.

I would like to thank all of our won-derful citizens for taking the time to read this, and hopefully this will give us a greater incentive to join hands, pull together and make Huntington an even better place to live. We will talk again.

May God bless you and may God bless the city of Huntington.Herman Woolbright is the mayor of the city of Hunting-

ton. He can be reached at city hall at 422-4195.

TOdAY in hisTOrY

have your sayTo submit a letter to the editor, bring it to

us at 300 Ellis Ave. in downtown Lufkin, mail it to P.O. Box 1089, Lufkin, TX 75902-1089, or visit an easy-to-use form at lufkindailynews.com/letters.

Or you can email your letter to [email protected].

Please limit your letters to 350 words.Be sure to include a daytime telephone

number on your letter.All letters are subject to editing for length



■ The Charles Wilson Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic sponsors “Women Are Veterans Too!” Expo.■ The Angelina County and Cities Health District conducts its fifth annual Drive-Thru Flu Vaccine Day.

Ten Years Ago■ Lufkin’s jobless rate dips from 6.6 percent to 6.1 percent according to the Deep East Texas Work Force Development Board.■ Lufkin ISD reviews new policies recommended by the Texas Association of School Boards con-cerning religion and discussion of controversial issues in the classrooms.

Twenty Years Ago■ City of Lufkin is looking to collect $360,000 in unpaid fines.■ Lufkin High School implements new absence & tardy policy that abolishes the need for written excuses for absences and moves detention time to

mornings, according to Principal Jim Bowie.From the Pages of The Lufkin Daily News, compiled by

The History Center, www.ThehistoryCenterOnline.com.


Today is Thursday, Sept. 20, the 264th day of 2012. There are 102 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Sept. 20, 1962, James Meredith, a

black student, was blocked from enroll-ing at the University of Mississippi by Democratic Gov. Ross R. Barnett. (Mer-edith was later admitted.)

On this date:In 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdi-

nand Magellan and his crew set out from Spain on five ships to find a western pas-sage to the Spice Islands. (Magellan was killed enroute, but one of his ships even-tually circled the world.)

In 1870, Italian troops took control of the Papal States, leading to the unifica-tion of Italy.

In 1873, panic swept the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in the wake

of railroad bond defaults and bank fail-ures.

In 1884, the National Equal Rights Party was formed during a convention of suffragists in San Francisco; the con-vention nominated Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood for president.

In 1911, the British liner RMS Olym-pic collided with the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hawke off the Isle of Wight; al-though seriously damaged, the Olympic was able to return to Southampton un-der its own power.

In 1947, former New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia died.

In 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. was seriously wounded during a book sign-ing at a New York City department store when Izola Curry stabbed him in the chest. (Curry was later found mentally incompetent.)

In 1967, the Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 was christened by Britain’s

Queen Elizabeth II in Clydebank, Scot-land.

In 1973, in their so-called “battle of the sexes,” tennis star Billie Jean King de-feated Bobby Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, at the Houston Astrodome.

In 1979, Jean-Bedel Bokassa, self-styled head of the Central African Em-pire, was overthrown in a French-sup-ported coup while on a visit to Libya.

In 1980, Spectacular Bid, ridden by Bill Shoemaker, ran as the only entry in the Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park in New York after three potential chal-lengers dropped out in horse racing’s first walkover since 1949.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton an-nounced that he was signing the Defense of Marriage Act, a bill outlawing same-sex marriages, but said it should not be used as an excuse for discrimination, violence or intimidation against gays and lesbians.


4aopinionLuFkindAiLYnews.COmThursdAY, sepTember 20, 2012 THE LuFkIN NEWS


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So-called country musicI just got through watching the CMA Country

Music Festival on television for three hours. Where in the world was the country music? I kept waiting for the music to be sung, but it was the last 15 min-utes of the show that was the best — Alan Jackson and Hank Williams Jr. ending the show. Oh, how I long for the days of Merle Haggard, George Jones, George Strait, Loretta Lynn and the late greats of Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash, Con-way Twitty. I could go on and on. Reba McIntire, Travis Tritt. There wasn’t a person on that stage that could compare with the above. It was a time when a person could tell who was singing on the radio by their voice, and you knew them by their first name and you knew what they were saying — not screaming into a mike. Real country music makes a tear come to your eye and you can Texas Two Step and waltz. All I can say is you can have this so-called country music, and I’ll stay with the oldies but goodies!

Debbie Conarroe of Lufkin

You tell themMr. Claude Welch, you told the truth about the

way it is, and what happened to this great country due to the greed from the very rich during the Bush and Republican reign.

I am surprised this paper printed your publica-tion.

Reagan said, “We have to have the smartest peo-ple running this country, and we must pay them well.”

Our lawmakers receive outrageous salaries and perks. All they do is give themselves frequent rais-es, go on vacation, and say no to everything except billions weekly for the war and foreign aid to our enemies.

If Romney and Ryan are elected, we old folks can kiss our hard-earned Social Security dollars goodbye. Social Security funds and Medicare will be placed in the hands of the 1 percent, who don’t even trickle.

The sad thing is they tell you what they intend to do with your money.

Vernell Davis of Zavalla

Andy AdamsEditor










Lufkin is in a better place, indus-trially speaking, because of Jim Wehmeier.

The city’s economic development director for nearly eight years announced Friday that he would be leaving town to accept a similar position in McKinney, which has a population of 136,000 (roughly 100,000 more than Lufkin) in its prime location 30 miles north of Dallas.

We have no doubt that it’s a good career move for Wehmeier, but it stinks for Lufkin. His economic development efforts — most notably, the multi-million-dollar industrial park outside of the loop on state Highway 103 east — have really started to gain traction.

Unemployment in both Lufkin and An-gelina County has dropped to 7 percent, according to Workforce data released Friday, and you have to give Wehmeier some credit for that. Since he took the job here, he has been active in not only trying to recruit new businesses here but also helping local companies retain jobs when they easily could have gone away. Most recently, Wehmeier has been at the fore-front of an effort by the city of Diboll and Angelina County as a whole to save the jobs of employees who are likely to be af-fected by International Paper’s purchase of Temple-Inland.

Wehmeier is often in our headlines for asking city council members, county com-missioners or college trustees to approve incentive packages for prospective or local industries — like the intriguing Proj-ect 800 that may be coming down the pike or the lesser-known Project 400, which he introduced to the local 4B Corporation on Friday. Some of those incentive packages have produced results; others have not. Either way, it’s clear that the guy has tried hard to effect positive change in the local economy.

From what we’ve seen, Wehmeier has done well managing the funds from the economic development sales tax ap-proved several years ago by Lufkin voters. The city’s 4B Corporation, which is in charge of that money, appears to be in good shape and has the resources of the industrial park (its proximity to major highways, the railroad and a fantastic water supply) to be able to lure additional businesses to Lufkin.

The city and its 4B organization need to act quickly, we believe, in attempt to retain, as much as possible, the economic development momentum that Wehmeier has built up in his years here.

We wish Wehmeier and his family well as they make the move to McKinney. Our loss is that city’s gain.

Jim WehmeierEconomic development

director has made city better place during his tenure

Volunteers key to museum’s success

In January 2013, the Mu-seum of East Texas will celebrate its 36th year. The

museum was founded by the Lufkin Service League (now the Junior League of Lufkin) in honor of the American bi-centennial. Those dedicated women believed that families — especially children — of Lufkin and East Texas should have the same culturally en-riching opportunities as those in urban areas.

The Museum of East Texas was founded as the Lufkin Historical and Creative Arts Center by the Lufkin Service League and dedicated in January 1976 in honor of the bicentennial. The museum was housed in the old St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church, which was built in 1906, originally as a wooden frame structure. It was bricked over in 1929 and served the community until fire gutted the sanctu-ary in 1969.

When the Episcopal congregation elected to build on a new site, the city of Lufkin acquired the property. The Lufkin Service League, assisted by interested citizens, obtained a lease from the city for the purpose of establishing a museum and cre-ative arts center.

Through the efforts of the League, major reno-vations were completed by volunteers in December 1975, according to the Texas Historical Commission marker in front of the building. “St. Cyprian’s orig-inal sanctuary stands today as Lufkin’s oldest ex-isting church building,” the marker states. Those brave ladies dedicated themselves to creating a cen-ter of culture and learning that rose from the ashes of that beautiful old building.

The museum opened to the public on Jan. 20, 1976. Until 1978, the museum was run by the board of trustees and a dedicated nucleus of volunteers from the League as well as the community at large. In August 1978, a professional director, Rudy Pha-ris, was hired. Mr. Pharis led until 1985, followed by David Messer until 1987, Mark Tullos until 1990 and J.P. McDonald from 1991-present.

In 1985, after nine years with the official name

as the Lufkin Historical and Creative Arts Center with an unofficial name of the Lufkin Historical and Creative Arts Center and the unofficial name “The Museum,” the board voted to change the name to the Museum of East Texas. In doing so, the museum broadened its emphasis beyond the Lufkin city limits to include the surrounding coun-ties. As a result, the scope of visitors and school tours has steadily increased on an annual basis.

The museum has undergone renovations in an ongoing effort to expand and improve the facility. In the beginning, exhibits were shown in the old sanctuary. In the next phase, exhibits were shown in what are now the administrative offices. In 1989, the museum undertook an extensive building project, including the addition of 7,500 square feet of new gallery space, a new entry, a shipping and receiving area, and renovations of existing space. In 2003, after a consultation with the Texas Histori-cal Commission, a restoration firm was hired to replace the original exterior and interior wooden door frames, and doors and window frames were replaced in the old sanctuary. A secondary special needs access was added in 2007, and in 2010 the roofs on the museum and the chapel were replaced with those developed to better withstand tropical winds. Existing heating and cooling systems were also replaced with energy-efficient systems.

It is the goal of the museum to preserve our col-lections and raise awareness of history, art, culture understanding and enrichment through the many exhibitions and educational programming pre-sented each year.

The Museum of East Texas is indebted to all the volunteers who have worked to make it a success. The gifts of photographs, art, artifacts, contribu-tions and time have helped make the museum a working partner with schools, businesses and cor-porations in improving our region.

Because of the earlier efforts of volunteers and active support of members, a solid groundwork has been laid for continued growth so future genera-tions of East Texans and all who visit the museum — at no cost — will continue to benefit.

J.P. McDonald is director of the Museum of east texas at 503 n. second st. in lufkin.


TodAy in hisTory



Have your sayTo submit a letter to the editor, bring it to us

at 300 Ellis Ave. in downtown Lufkin, mail it to P.O. Box 1089, Lufkin, TX 75902-1089, or visit an easy-to-use form at lufkindailynews.com/let-ters. Or you can email your letter to [email protected].

Please limit your letters to 350 words.Be sure to include a daytime telephone num-

ber on your letter.All letters are subject to editing for length



Today is Sunday, Sept. 23, the 267th day of 2012. There are 99 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Sept. 23, 1952, Sen. Richard M. Nixon, R-Ca-

lif., salvaged his vice-presidential nomination by appearing live on television to refute allegations of improper campaign fundraising. (The address became known as the “Checkers” speech because of Nixon’s on-air reference to the family pet, a dog named “Checkers.”)

On this date:In 1779, during the Revolutionary War, the Amer-

ican warship Bon Homme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, defeated the HMS Serapis in battle.

In 1780, British spy John Andre was captured along with papers revealing Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British.

In 1806, the Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis more than two years after setting out for the Pacific Northwest.

In 1846, Neptune was identified as a planet by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.

In 1912, Houston’s William Marsh Rice Institute (later renamed Rice University), opened for classes on the 12th anniversary of Rice’s death.

In 1932, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was found-ed.


■ Audubon Behavioral healthcare host Open house to show-case its 24-bed inpatient gero-psychiatric facility.■ the A.C. singers, Angelina College’s traveling variety show performs at the texas forest festival.

Ten years Ago■ lufkin high school Panthers overcome 22-8 half-time deficit vs. state’s no. 1 football team Aldine eisenhower to take win 36-29.■ sylvia Brooks, president & CeO of houston urban league speaks at long Chapel Church.

Twenty years Ago■ texas senators approve Big thicket natural Preserve expan-sion by recommending an extra 12,000 acres.■ the Angelina County history Book has arrived and can be picked up at kurth Memorial library.

from the pages of the lufkin Daily news, compiled by the history Center, www.Thehistorycenteronline.com.


I am pleased and grateful to The Lufkin Daily News for allowing me to communicate some of the

activities that take place in the city of Lufkin. One of the first questions I was asked after be-coming mayor was:

“What is the 4B Economic Development Corporation?”

The question came from a person who manages a promi-nent business in Lufkin, which opened my eyes for the need to share and communicate infor-mation about our city government.

In 1979, the State of Texas passed the Develop-ment Corporation Act, which authorized cities to create economic development corporations. The economic development sales tax was created in 1989 to allow smaller Texas communities the opportu-nity and financial resources to attract primary jobs. The Texas Local Government Code governs both Type A and Type B Economic Development Corpo-rations and also allows cities to adopt a sales tax to fund these corporations. The Code also details the projects that are allowed. There are two types of Economic Development Corporations; Type A and Type B.

Type A is intended for manufacturing and indus-trial development including purchasing land, con-struction of buildings, equipment, facilities expen-ditures, targeted infrastructure and improvements for projects including:

■ manufacturing and industrial facilities, recy-cling facilities, distribution centers, and small ware-house facilities;

■ research and development facilities, regional or national corporate headquarters facilities, pri-mary job training facilities operated by higher edu-cation institutions, job training classes, telephone call centers and career centers not located within a

junior college taxing district;■ certain infrastructure improvements that pro-

mote or develop new or expanded business enter-prises;

■ aviation facilities;■ commuter rail, light rail or commuter bus op-

erations;■ port-related facilities, railports, rail switching

facilities, marine ports, inland ports; and■ maintenance and operating costs associated

with projects.Type B sales tax may be used for any project eli-

gible under Type A rules and other project types, including quality of life improvements. Type B cor-porations may pay for land, buildings, equipment, facilities, targeted infrastructure and improve-ments for:

■ professional and amateur sports and athletic facilities, tourism and entertainment facilities, con-vention facilities and public parks;

■ related store, restaurant, concession, parking and transportation facilities;

■ related street, water and sewer facilities; and■ affordable housing.To promote and develop new and expanded busi-

ness enterprises that create or retain primary jobs, a Type B EDC may fund:

■ public safety facilities;■ recycling facilities;■ streets, roads, drainage and related improve-

ments;■ demolition of existing structures;■ general municipally owned improvements; and■ maintenance and operating costs associated

with projects.In June 2003, the Lufkin City Council began

discussions on the implementation of the State of Texas Economic Development Sales Tax here. In September 2003, the council voted unanimously to express its intent to purse the adoption of an Eco-nomic Development Sales Tax through an election.

An election was held on Feb. 7, 2004, to repeal one-eighth (1/8th) of 1 percent of the Sales and Use Tax and adopt a Section 4B sales and use tax at the rate of one-eighth (1/8th) of 1 percent to undertake al-lowable projects by a Type B Economic Develop-ment Corporation. The votes were canvassed dur-ing the council meeting of Feb. 10, 2004, when voters approved repealing an eighth of 1 percent of the sales and use tax by a 1,552-549 margin and adopt-ing the 4B sales tax by a 1,311-757 margin.

The city council then passed a resolution autho-rizing the incorporation of the Lufkin 4B Economic Development Corporation, and it was officially in-corporated in June 2004.

Since the inception of the Lufkin 4B Economic Development Corporation, 157 acres have been pur-chased for the development of the Lufkin Business Park. The property was then utilized to acquire $4 million in federal EDA funding to pre-develop en-trances, utility extensions, earthwork, detention fa-cilities for the entire site, and the complete re-build of Moffett Road between FM 842 and Loop 287.

Additionally, numerous business retention and expansion projects have been accomplished includ-ing Lufkin Industries (2), Georgia Pacific, Atkin-son Candy, Angelina American and Vertis. Also a number of new projects such as Angelina Tank and American Oil recovery have been completed. Main Street district re-development projects in-clude Moore Brothers and the Angelina Hotel. The Lufkin 4B Economic Development Corporation has also received a number of legislative grants for the Convention Center/Shelter expansion, the develop-ment of Cassells Boykin and medical equipment for Angelina College.

This is just one example of what can be done when a community works together to take advan-tage of programs provided by our state and federal government. Thanks again to The Lufkin Daily News for this chance to visit.

Bob Brown is mayor of the city of lufkin.

4B Economic Development Corp. promotes growth

J.p. mcdonAld

bob brown

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Andy AdamsEditor











El Paso Times. Our schools: Texas must improve education

We take it as a positive sign that a committee of Texas senators is listening to an innovative way to improve classroom learning in our public schools. At least innovative in Texas.

This is a muddy issue. U.S. chil-dren continue to be outperformed by industrialized Asian and European nations in science and math. And Texas is not among our top states in education rankings. El Paso is bereft with schools not meeting federal guidelines in standardized testing.

But, on that same note, the Texas Legislature cut $4 billion from public education in its last budget-making process. And a vast majority of teachers here, and nationally, say their teaching abilities are curtailed by mandates to teach students to pass standardized tests, not neces-sarily to learn their traditional read-ing, writing, math, science ...

The Associated Press reported the Senate’s Education Committee heard a school administrator say that extending school days and the school year helped Houston students “dramatically academically.” The extensions were one hour per day and 10 days per year. It was paid for by donations from the business community and individual citizens, and by using government grants for at-risk students.

The Senate committee also heard that a nonprofit group in Dallas held Saturday classes for strug-gling students using its own trained professionals instead of Dallas-area teachers.

Much more analysis is required before Texas could make a decision on mandating more time for public education. Both assumptions and various forms of data indicate more school means more learning.

But there’s also the question of paying for it.

Texas lawmakers should look hard at that when they convene again in January. During the last legislative session, they chose slashing, not adding, public-school funding amid a major belt-tightening of the overall Texas budget.

Nationally, the latest data show U.S. children are making no progress when it comes to science and math scores. Twelve nations top the U.S.

As Christopher Cross of the Coun-cil on Basic Education points out, there’s been no improvement in four years, and if changes are not made, there will be no improvement four years from now.

Longer school days and years may not be feasible here. But it’s a good thing, nonetheless, that this com-mittee is looking at ways to give a needed jump-start to the education

of Texas public-school children. Given our position in the U.S., it should be their top priority.

———Midland Reporter-Telegram.

School funding should be No. 1 priority

It has been our stance over the past year that the most pressing item that the 83rd Legislative session needs to address is the funding of education in our state. We need a clear plan that offers sufficient fund-ing for now and the future.

We still haven’t heard an idea for that plan, but the time may have come for the Legislature to deal with it. Rep. Tom Craddick gave a glimpse into what the House might discuss this session when he talked with the Midland County Republican Women last week.

Craddick said about 45.8 percent of the budget was allocated toward schools in the 82nd Legislative ses-sion. That figure represented a more than $1 billion increase from the previous session. However, the bud-get didn’t account for new student enrollment, which proved to be an effective cut of millions of dollars here in West Texas.

Obviously, we need some changes to get adequate funding back into our schools. Craddick said during this session that both the funding for schools and the system in which dollars are allocated needs to be ad-dressed.

It is our hope that the Legislature takes this mission seriously and finds a way to prop up state funding. We certainly don’t ask for a giveaway approach for the schools, but we can’t continue to cut into an already injured bone.

Craddick said he would prefer lawmakers move to put more control with local school district leaders. “The state should be able to tell Mid-land it will allocate a certain amount per child and then give Midland lead-ers the ability to ask local taxpayers to increase that total,” he said.

We can see a benefit to that way of thinking.

We certainly will hold our opinion on such a plan until we actually see how it would work. School funding doesn’t work so well when the state takes tax money from some of the richer districts to fund some of the poorer ones. If you are going to tax locally, the money must stay locally.

Of course, many ideas should come forth when the session gets to full steam, and we hope the lawmak-ers take to this task in a serious manner. Nothing else they can do this time around will matter more to the state.

It will be a complicated work because the state faces up to a $15 billion deficit over what has been asked to be budgeted. Like the 82nd Legislative session, the 83rd has its own set of challenges.


Learning life lessons playing footballIt’s time for some football all over

the great State of Texas. Thousands of young men

are gearing up for a run at a success-ful season. It is my hope that all of the coaches who coach this sport realize that it’s not about the sport, but it’s all about the young men who play the sport. We must em-brace the fact that football is a game that will teach us a whole lot about life. I am so glad that I got a chance to play and coach football, because I don’t think I would be where I am today without having experienced the life lessons learned through this great game.

The game of football taught me to grow up. Life is tough and the game begins when your feet hit the floor ev-ery morning. Every player has certain responsibilities on every play and each player is depended on to do their job to the best of their ability. Just like in life every person has responsibilities and must hit the floor with intensity in their intentions and pay close attention to the tasks that lie before them. Football is a game where your character is chal-lenged on every play. Life is a game that your character is challenged each and every day. We must learn quickly to

grow up and bow up to the task at hand.The game of football also taught me to

suit up. Playing football requires you to put on equipment that will protect you from your opponent. The helmet and shoulder pads cover two critical areas that must be protected. They cover your head and your heart. In life you must not let some people, places or things into your head or they will distract you from making the right choices. We must also be careful what we allow into our hearts, because what is in your heart influences who you will become. Without the right protection, life will be one big headache and we will suffer many heartbreaks.

Football also taught me how to huddle up. We must carefully consider who we huddle up with. You certainly do not want your opponent inside your huddle. If so, they will be privy to all of your goals and will block and tackle you be-fore you get a chance to execute your plays. We need people in our huddles who will not be penalized for holding us back, illegal procedures and for jump-ing off-sides. In life we must huddle up with people we can depend on. Those who will block for us and not let us get sacked. If we are surrounded by people who don’t have our best interests in mind there will be no room to advance and we will continue to have to punt.

Yes my friends, football is not just a game, it is the game of life. Football taught me that if I wanted to be suc-cessful I must get lined up right. We will

never be successful if we don’t get lined up in the right position. Our goals will never be reached if we don’t line up cor-rectly or get ourselves in the right for-mation. Getting lined up is about being where you are supposed to be and doing what you are supposed to do. No man is an island and in order to be successful we must all play our parts to the best of our abilities.

As I begin to conclude I must tell you that football also taught me to shut up. In life we must learn that we can’t just talk about it, we must be about it. Many people talk a good game, but they can’t walk the talk. All they do is pay lip ser-vice to what they could have done, would have done or should have done, but they didn’t do anything but talk. We must not fail to properly run a play, because we are running our mouth.

Finally, the game of football taught me one last and great lesson. It taught me to put up. In life we must learn to put up a good fight. The game of football and the game of life are all about putting up a good fight, in football on every play, and in life on every day. I learned that you win some battles and you lose some, but the key to success is to keep putting up a great fight. It is my hope that one major thing happens this season… I hope that a slew of young boys grow up into young men prepared by the game of football to face the game of life.Don Jackson is the principal at Brookhollow Elementary.

His email address is [email protected].

Political highlights from Utah, with LoveSALT LAKE CITY — A specter is

haunting the Congressional Black Caucus, the specter of integration.

It is discomforting enough that the now 43-member CBC has included a Republican since 2011, when Flor-ida’s Allen West became the first Republican to join the CBC since 1997. South Carolina’s Tim Scott, an Afri-can-American, also came to Congress in 2011 but declined to join.

And soon a second might move in. There goes the neighborhood.

Mia Love, 37, is running against in-cumbent Democrat Jim Matheson, 52, in a district created when the 2010 cen-sus gave a fourth representative to this booming state — imagine Utah’s growth if the federal government did not own 58 percent of the land.

Love is black but not African-Amer-ican. She was born in Brooklyn in 1975 to Haitian immigrants who arrived with $10. On her father’s wages as a janitor and a factory worker and her mother’s as a housekeeper, she got through the Uni-versity of Hartford. In Connecticut, she met her husband — he is a Mormon, as she now is and 62 percent of Utahans are.

Fourteen years ago, they moved to this state, where blacks were about 1 percent of the population before Love arrived and had three children. In 2009, she was elected mayor of Saratoga Springs, a suburb of 18,000 that grew 1,700 percent between its incorporation in 1997 and the

housing crash in 2008, after which Mayor Love governed like this: When constitu-ents said they needed a library, she found $10,000 and suggested volunteers do the rest: “I intended to see if they really wanted a library.” They have one.

Two-thirds of the voters in the new district have never voted for Matheson, whose home is not in the district. There is, however, no constitutional require-ment that a representative live where he runs, and as a sixth-generation Utahan, and the son of a popular two-term gover-nor, he has considerable strengths as he seeks a seventh term.

Utah may be the most Republican state, and Matheson is one of the Demo-cratic congressmen representing espe-cially Republican districts. But Utah has seemed to like having a token Democrat in its delegation in Washington, where Matheson, after graduating from Har-vard, worked for Speaker Tip O’Neill. Matheson is a member of the dwindling Blue Dog caucus of moderate Demo-crats, and voted against Obamacare, cap-and-trade and the DREAM Act im-migration measure for children of illegal immigrants. This year he voted to repeal Obamacare (previously he voted against that) but has announced he will vote for Barack Obama.

Love is energetic and eclectically principled: If elected, she surely will be the only House member whose Kindle contains works by Frederic Bastiat, the French free-market thinker who in a sa-tirical 1845 letter asked France’s parlia-ment to protect candle makers:

“We are suffering from the ruinous competition of a rival who apparently works under conditions so far superior to our own for the production of light

that he is flooding the domestic market with it at an incredibly low price. ... This rival, which is none other than the sun, is waging war on us. ... We ask you to be so good as to pass a law requiring the clos-ing of all windows, dormers, skylights. ... “

In this, one of the most racially and culturally homogenous states, the only uninteresting thing about Love is that she is black. This is not just progress, it is the destination toward which progress was directed during the brisk march to today’s healthy indifference to the fact that Love would be the first black Repub-lican woman ever in the House. Some “stalemate.”

In March 2008, in the speech osten-sibly explaining the inexplicable — his 20 years in the pews of the raving Rev. Jeremiah Wright — candidate Barack Obama referred to “a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years.” Hardly.

He was then eight months from win-ning 43 percent of the white vote — two points more than John Kerry won four years earlier. Obama carried three states — three more than Kerry — of the Confederacy (Florida, Virginia and North Carolina). In states outside the South, Obama received substantially more white votes than any Democratic candidate since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 — more than Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Wal-ter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clin-ton or Al Gore. This is part of the “racial stalemate” in which Mississippi has more black elected officials — not more relative to population; more — than any other state.

George Will writes for The Washington Post.His email address is [email protected] in hisTOrY


■ Lufkin High School clarinet section leader Ma-rissa Johnson is crowned 2011 Lufkin High School Homecoming Queen.■ The fate of Temple-Inland take over by Inter-national Paper Company is on everyone’s mind in Diboll and surrounding counties. The question on the minds of many local residents is “What comes next?” for the company that put Diboll on the map more than 100 years ago.

Ten Years Ago■ Most of the 31 people who spoke during the formal comment portion of the public hearing voiced support for Abitibi Consolidated’s applica-

tion to renew its wastewater permit with the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality.■ Lufkin ISD Tri-Ethnic Committee welcomes for new members — Jim Brody, Steven Lewis, Jesus Mondragon & Linda Pendleman.

Twenty Years Ago■ Randall’s Food Market host job fair that will fill more than 300 positions at it’s new store in Lufkin.■ Lufkin runners take top honors in the 4-mile Texas Forest Festival Run. The fastest male runner is Kevin Whiteley with a time of 27:08 minutes and the female fastest runner is Debra Taylor with a time of 34:30 minutes.

From the pages of The Lufkin Daily News, compiled by The History Center, www.ThehistoryCenterOnline.com


Today is Monday, Sept. 24, the 268th day of 2012. There are 98 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Sept. 24, 1890, the president of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Wilford Woodruff, wrote a mani-festo renouncing the practice of polyg-amy, or plural marriage (the manifesto was formally accepted by the Mormon Church the following month).

On this date:In 1789, Congress passed a Judiciary

Act providing for an Attorney General and a Supreme Court.

In 1869, thousands of businessmen were ruined in a Wall Street panic known as “Black Friday” after finan-ciers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempt-ed to corner the gold market.

In 1929, Lt. James H. Doolittle guided a Consolidated NY-2 Biplane over Mitchel Field in New York in the first all-instru-ment flight.


4aopinionLuFkindAiLYnews.COmmOndAY, sepTember 24, 2012 THE LuFKIN NEWS


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Our weekly collection of Toasts & Roasts, a few days after the end of one of the best Texas State

Forest Festivals we can remem-ber:

A toast to the group of par-ents who have complained to the Lufkin school board that some of the district’s gymnasiums get too hot for comfort — and, possibly, safety — during competitions involving their sons and daugh-ters. We do agree with Lufkin ISD Superintendent Roy Knight when he indicates that the costs of air-conditioning those facilities would be too high, especially in this time of budget crunches. We also believe the parents have a le-gitimate beef, based on the indoor climate conditions at a Lufkin Middle School volleyball tourna-ment Saturday: Even with it being just 80 degrees outside, it was pretty stuffy inside. We’re sure it gets close to unbearable when it’s 95 to 100 degrees outside. But big box fans placed on the floor of the court seemed to make it OK for the young student-athletes during the Saturday event. We encour-age the school district to continue to look for ways to keep our kids safe, whether it’s by holding more early-morning or late-night events, or — as Knight suggested — providing more hydration opportunities and breaks for the kids throughout the various competitions. We appreciate the

organized and respectful manner in which the parents presented their case to the school board last week. That’s the best way to effect change when change is needed.

A roast to some of our football fans, those who are good about coming to the Panthers’ games but who leave early in the third quarter — whether it’s because they just want to stay long enough to see the bands and drill teams perform, or because the game’s already out of hand by then (whether it’s our team or the other one that’s way ahead). Our new coach and the young men playing for him could use your support through the end of the game; it must be disheartening to look up and see half the crowd gone by the start of the fourth quarter. The Pack faithful needs to get back to being a little more faithful.

A roast, likewise, to the Longview Lobos contingent for taking its obnoxious train horn to out-of-town games. We appreciate the fact that the Lufkin-Longview game has turned into what may be the biggest rivalry for both schools, but there’s something to be said for respecting a team’s home-field advantage. It’s fine to bring an inflatable helmet and the smoke that goes with it, but we’re surprised that opposing schools allow the Lobos backers to blast that monster air horn when they come to town. They shouldn’t.

Toasts & RoastsSchools, fans need to work together for safety, support of student-athletes

Community efforts build schoolsEmbrace your community and

your schools. Every child! Every day! Every way!

It’s an exciting time in Diboll ISD with new challenges and new opportu-nities. We are so excited about the initiatives that our school board and community have embraced. I will be writing about those initiatives in up-coming articles.

I have said it nu-merous times that we have some out-standing schools and school leaders in Angelina County. Each district is doing a great job educating its children. Di-boll ISD and other county schools have all embraced the new vision that Mrs. Whiteker spoke about in her Sept. 12th article. We as superintendents appreci-ate Mrs. Whiteker for her leadership in Austin. I like to call her “Queen” Mary Ann and yes I call Roy Knight “King” Roy! Their experience as superinten-dents and leaders has been invaluable to each superintendent in this county. As superintendents we have met local-ly and regionally to begin this process so we can address our legislators and senators on what is important to each of our communities. These changes will require bold leadership and will be met with uncertainty and resistance. How can each of our Angelina County com-munities help? As a school leader and former athletic director I have witnessed teams, organizations and even families that are fueled by apathy (oh woe is me), low expectations, me vs. we, resistance

to change (that’s the way we have always done it!), back biting, nit picking, etc., you know the drill. These teams, pro-grams and individuals are doomed for failure and are constantly looking for leadership and direction.

I use this analogy to say that what schools and communities need now is a unified group of caring people who will help their local school boards and school leadership with this change. If communities embrace the vision of their schools and stay involved as we go through the legislative process the results will come. We may get a bloody nose or two, there may be some scars and it may be one yard and a cloud of dust but it will happen as long as we stay the course and persevere!

I love competing with our local dis-tricts in UIL, robotics, science fair, county fair and other competitive ven-ues. But to use a test given one day out of the year as the only way of determin-ing whether a district is “exemplary” is ludicrous because each of us has great programs that shine in different ways and different years. Each of us has tal-ented and competent staff members that genuinely care about their communities and schools. Each of us has different students from varying backgrounds and with different needs. This is not about individual schools and communities, it is about all children in Texas and espe-cially our six county school districts.

A common vision and goal in a home, an organization or a community can be achieved if everyone is working togeth-er. Notice I did not say it would be easy, but it can be achieved. Your chamber of commerce is on board, your cities are on board, and your schools are on board, so

get involved. We ask that you visit with Sen. Robert

Nichols and state Rep. Trent Ashby let them know that you want to be a builder and not someone content with tearing down! Your school districts will be fight-ing for every child in this county during the next legislative session. Please help us in this endeavor because together we can change the current system that is ty-ing the hands of our teachers and leav-ing our children behind.

I saw a group of men tearing a build-ing down.

With a heave and a ho and a mighty yell,

They swung a beam and the sidewalk fell.

And I said to the foreman, “Are these men skilled,

The type you’d hire if you wanted to build?”

And he laughed and said, “Why no in-deed.”

He said “Common labor’s all I need.For I can tear down in a day or twoWhat it took a builder ten years to do.”And I thought to myself as I walked

away.“Which of these roles am I going to

play?Am I the type that constantly tears

down?As I make my way, foolishly around?Or am I the type that’s trying to build

with care,In hope that my organization will be

glad I was there?”Source: A Championship Season at

Notre Dame, Lou HoltzGary Martell is the superintendent for Diboll ISD.


A simple lesson about economicsHere’s a question: If there’s a di-

saster, a war, a severe drought or some other calamity that

restricts future supplies of a com-modity — such as oil, coffee or corn — what is the in-telligent thing for people to do right away? If you said “use less now and try to produce more,” you’d be absolutely correct. That’s not rocket science, but under-standing the machinery involved in get-ting people to do so is a bit more chal-lenging.

The best way to get people to use less and produce more is to allow prices to rise. For example, say a Middle East con-flict restricts oil supplies and causes pric-es to rise. The effect of higher prices for oil is that it gives individuals incentive to eliminate or reduce the low-valued uses of oil. For example, a low-valued use of oil is for homeowners to allow the heat that it generates to seep through walls and leaky windows. Higher oil prices create incentives to homeowners to in-stall insulation. Higher gasoline prices force motorists to economize by taking measures such as carpooling and taking fewer low-valued trips.

Suppose that in the wake of a natural

disaster — in the name of anti-gouging or some other nonsense — government officials mandate that prices cannot rise. What’s the economic message? The man-date encourages people to continue their consumption as if the disaster didn’t happen. Let’s use gasoline as a concrete example. Suppose a family is fleeing a pending hurricane and has a half-tank of gas, plenty to get them to a safe des-tination, but they would feel more com-fortable topping off the tank. If the price of gasoline remained at a pre-hurricane price of $3 a gallon, they might do so. But if the price shot up to $5, they’d wait until they arrived at their destination. Their decision has the effect of making more gasoline available for others. So here’s my question: Which alternative is preferable for a family, fleeing the hur-ricane with their gas gauge showing nearly empty, gasoline available at $5 a gallon or gasoline unavailable at $3?

You might say that when there’s an emergency, the government should step in to prevent prices from rising by estab-lishing price controls. During the 1970s, the Nixon and Ford administrations, in reaction to a jump in fuel prices caused by cuts in production by OPEC, did just that. Price controls led to massive short-ages, long lines at gasoline stations and massive misallocation of resources.

Whenever there are expected short-ages of a commodity, there are millions of wonderful nongovernmental people

who enter to help. These people, often vilified and called every name except child of God, are the speculators. Effi-cient allocation of resources requires al-location over time. If speculators guess there will be future shortages, they will buy the commodity now in the hopes of making a personal gain when prices rise. Their purchases have the effect of raising the commodity’s price now and making more available in the future — and at a lower-than-otherwise price.

Last April, President Barack Obama called for his Department of Justice to lead a task force to root out manipula-tion of the oil market and gouging of consumers at the gas pump. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced leg-islation called the End Excessive Oil Speculation Now Act. White House and congressional attacks on oil speculation do not alter the oil market’s fundamen-tal demand-and-supply reality. What would lower the long-term price of oil is for Obama and Congress to permit ex-ploration for the estimated billions upon billions of barrels of oil off our Atlantic and Pacific shores, the Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska — not to mention the esti-mated billions, possibly trillions, of bar-rels of shale oil in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and North Dakota — but doing that would offend the sensitivities of envi-ronmental extremists who have the ears of Congress and the White House.

Walter Williams writes for Creators Syndicate.

TOdAY in hisTOrY

Have your sayTo submit a letter to the editor,

bring it to us at 300 Ellis Ave. in downtown Lufkin, mail it to P.O. Box 1089, Lufkin, TX 75902-1089, or visit an easy-to-use form at luf-kindailynews.com/letters. Or you can email your letter to [email protected].




Doing the right thingThe last proposal that I looked at had

I-69 coming through the middle of my property from one corner to the other. I hear that it is “In The Works.” The last time that I looked at our house/property that I am working hard to make into a home for my family, I thought to myself, ”Man I sure have a whole lot of work here to just turn around and sell to the state after I am done!” I’m sure some of you feel the same. I know that it’s going to take years to build and that’s fine. I feel that once the route has been estab-lished, which needs to happen more quickly, that people’s properties need to be bought immediately. That way they can move on with their lives and raise children and make memories in the home that they grew up in and not have all of their memories bulldozed and paved over. I know there are many good points of view over the I-69 project and I ask for those spearheading the project

to consider mine. I feel that it’s the right thing to do so people can get on with their lives.

Bobby Young, Lufkin

SEPTEMBER 26 One Year Ago

■ Former Diboll High School football standout Jermichael Finley scores 3 touchdowns for the Green Bay Packers in their 27-17 win over the Chicago Bears.■ Brookshire Brothers, an employee-owned grocery chain of 70 stores, kicks off food drive at 20 of its East Texas locations to benefit the East Texas Food Bank.

Ten Years Ago■ Farmers Insurance Company pulls out of Texas — to stop renewing policies on Nov. 11; more than 2,000 Angelina County residents will feel the effect.

■ United Way of Angelina County kicks off its annual fundraising drive in front of the big “ther-mometer” in front of Lufkin Mall, displaying the organization’s goal of $725,000.

Twenty Years Ago■ Lufkin Frozen Food on Herndon Street is closing its doors after 50 years of business. Owner Linnette Jones is auctioning off all appliances, machinery, etc.■ A & M Consolidated High School edges Lufkin Pack 30-23 in football action at College Station. Lufkin drops to 1-3 for the current season.

From the pages of The Lufkin Daily News, compiled by The History Center, www.ThehistoryCenterOnline.com.

The Associated PressToday is Wednesday, Sept. 26, the

270th day of 2012. There are 96 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Sept. 26, 1789, Thomas Jefferson

was confirmed by the Senate to be the first United States secretary of state; John Jay, the first chief justice; Edmund Randolph, the first attorney general.

On this date:In 1777, British troops occupied Phila-

delphia during the American Revolu-tion.

In 1892, John Philip Sousa and his newly formed band performed publicly for the first time, at the Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, N.J.

In 1918, the Meuse-Argonne offensive, resulting in an Allied victory against the

Germans, began during World War I.In 1955, following word that President

Dwight D. Eisenhower had suffered a heart attack, the New York Stock Ex-change saw its worst price decline since 1929.

In 1960, the first-ever debate between presidential nominees took place in Chi-cago as Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon faced off before a national TV audience.

In 1986, William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.

In 1990, the Motion Picture Associa-tion of America announced it had cre-ated a new rating, NC-17, to replace the X rating.


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This newspaper, along with others across the state and nation, has long argued that open

meetings are a key cog in open government, which is a key cog in democracy. We were elated this week when a federal ap-peals court upheld the Texas Open Meetings Act, which prohibits a quorum of members of a governmental body — like a city council, commissioners’ court or school board — from deliberating in secret.

A group of 15 Texas cities (not including any in Angelina and Nacogdoches counties) chal-lenged the law in 2009, arguing that it criminalizes political speech, according to an Associ-ated Press story. They argued that, while they support open government, the document out-lawed such behavior as simply talking to a colleague about a matter on a city council agenda, the AP story stated.

The three-judge federal ap-peals court upheld a March decision by U.S. District Judge Robert Junell that labeled the officials’ arguments “nonsensi-cal,” according to an Austin American-Statesman blog post. The opinion issued Tuesday by the appeals court stated, “The plaintiffs’ argument fails because it ignores the other purposes of TOMA, such as increasing transparency, foster-ing trust in government, and ensuring that all members of a governing body may take part in the discussion of public busi-ness. With respect to these other goals, TOMA is not overbroad.”

Transparency and trust are the key words there. Texas tax-payers deserve to know why our elected officials do the things

they do with our money.“Today’s ruling is a great vic-

tory for democracy and the First Amendment. The decision fur-ther guarantees the public will continue to have access to infor-mation about how their govern-ment works,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said after the ruling. “Making meetings accessible and allowing the public to see how decisions are made are the foundation of open government. A healthy democ-racy requires that the public have access to how government operates.”

Many East Texans — namely, those who are do not actively attend public meetings — prob-ably don’t even know about the Texas Open Meetings Act, but it’s a vital safeguard against malfeasance by our elected officials and helps keep local residents informed. A couple of recent examples: this week’s Na-cogdoches County Commission-ers Court meeting, in which the commissioners were required to discuss and vote openly on bud-get cuts that will cost more than 20 sheriff’s employees their jobs, and a Zavalla City Council meet-ing last month that included a behind-closed-doors discussion on the municipal judge’s posi-tion. (Our attorney, a Freedom of Information Foundation board member, said at the time that he believed the Zavalla meeting was illegal, based on the Texas Open Meetings Act.)

We are pleased that the fed-eral appeals court has affirmed that the Texas Open Meetings Act is constitutional. We also believe it is reasonable, and we continue to encourage our local officials to respect and abide by that law.

Open MeetingsFederal court does well to uphold

constitutionality of open meetings law

FYI: Is it safe to eat fish from Rayburn?Q: Is it safe to eat fish from Lake Sam

Rayburn?A: The Texas

Department of State Health Ser-vices monitors fish for environmental contaminants and alerts the public through bans and advisories when a threat to human health may occur from the consump-tion of contaminated fish. A consump-tion advisory, a recommendation to limit consumption to specified quanti-ties, species and sizes of fish, was issued on Nov. 2, 1995, and is still in effect. The advisory was issued when a sampling of fish taken from Sam Rayburn Reservoir indicated that mercury was in the edible tissue of several species of fish.

Health officials advise that people should not consume more than two meals — an eight-ounce portion for adults, four ounces for children — per month combined of largemouth bass and freshwater drum. For more infor-

mation on consumption bans and ad-visories, visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us/regulations/fish_hunt/fish/consump-tion_bans.phtml or call the Texas De-partment of State Health Services at (800) 685-0361 (shellfish) or (512) 834-6757 (fish).

Q: What is a police conferring meet-ing?

A: According to Lufkin city officials, the Meet and Confer statute permits po-lice and fire groups to meet with desig-nated city management teams to discuss employment matters such as wages, benefits and working conditions. If the governing body recognizes Meet and Confer, as the Lufkin City Council has, the city manager may designate one or more staff members to serve on a man-agement Meet and Confer Team. There are no requirements in the law for either party to meet and confer on any issue or reach an agreement. All agreements must be in writing and ratified through a voting process by all uniform officers and approved by the governing body. The Lufkin City Council approved a 2012-13 Lufkin Police Department Meet and Confer Agreement on Sept. 18.

Q: Is it illegal for someone to fly a Mexican flag and no American flag in the front yard of their home?

A: No. The Flag Code requires that the American flag be flown at federal institutions, including public schools, but does not require a private resident to fly the American flag and does not pro-hibit anyone from displaying a foreign flag. However, the code does prohibit a foreign flag from being displayed above the American flag, recommending that two flag poles be used for that purpose. Laws relating to the American flag are found in the United States Code. Title 4, Chapter 1 pertains to the flag, Title 18, Chapter 33, Section 700 regards criminal penalties for flag desecration and Title 36, Chapter 3 pertains to patriotic cus-toms and observances.



Water rights not a simple issue in TexasHaving been blessed to live here in

the piney woods of East Texas, we have also been blessed with

an abundance of natural resources. The recent boom in natural gas ex-ploration is just one facet in a long histo-ry of replenishable commodities that have sustained the local economy.

While water is one of the most abundant and prolific natural resources that we enjoy and often take for granted, it’s also one of the most difficult com-modities to forecast and one where his-tory will be made in the future. With the drought of 2011 behind us and the win-ter rains of 2012 in front of us, we have to ask ourselves one question: What does the future hold?

In this great state of Texas, “we, the people” own the water that flows over

and across the surface of the land. And, like most assets that “we, the people” own, the state controls and regulates the use of this public asset. Water under the ground, on the other hand, is a different matter.

Earlier this year, the Texas Supreme Court issued a ruling on a groundwater matter that infers that the water under the ground is a vested private property right similar, and possibly equal to, min-eral rights.

So, what’s all the fuss about? Well, the fact is, it’s a simple matter of supply and demand. We have the supply and the rest of the state has the demand. When you look at any color map of the state of Texas, you quickly notice that Texas is a transition state when it comes to geog-raphy.

The western two-thirds of the state is arid and brown in color and the eastern third is more lush and green. With the population in Texas expected to double over the next 40 to 50 years, most of that population is expected to locate them-

selves in areas other than East Texas.If water is the physical essence of life,

and it is — we all buy it, use it on a daily basis and have to have it for our very survival — and remembering that we also have to save enough for the natu-ral world around us, how are we going to meet the demands of the future and a growing states’ population? Who will control this naturally occurring renew-able commodity that’s critical to every form of life? How will it be appropriated?

While these questions appear to be relatively simple on the surface, rest assured there are differing opinions on every conceivable side of the issue. The fact is that we are all citizens of this great state, and at some point we have to share or more appropriately be will-ing to export this commodity to other parts of the state. My biggest concern is whether it will be on our terms or the terms set by others.

Kelley Holcomb is the general manager of the Angelina & Neches River Authority.


TOdAY in hisTOrY






How long will US survive?Today, I’m wondering how long this

country will survive with a leading po-litical party that had to be forced to put God back in their party platform and to keep faith with Israel, our best ally. Their party leaders only forced them to do so because an election is coming up and it would cost them votes if they didn’t put God back in the platform.

Without God, this nation will not sur-vive. If we turn against Israel, God will be against us. At least that is what my Bible says! Be very careful when you try and harm Israel.

How will this nation prosper if we keep a person in the White House who believes that America is just a bully, should be downsized and forced to hand over our sovereignty to the UN, let them overrule our Constitution and rule of law and tell us we have no right to raise our children as we see fit, own guns, worship, or have freedom of speech. And they believe American tax dollars should pay for them to do so.

I guess they don’t think that is too bad, since we are now sending millions of dollars we borrow from China to ter-rorists who use it to kill Americans.

While they do this, our American veterans are having their care cut back. They take millions from Medicare and the doctors don’t want to take Medicare and Medicaid because of cuts to these programs.

We need a new president that loves, respects and protects this country, lives up to his oath of office; one that will re-build the infrastructure of this nation and rebuild the faith of our friends, al-lies and enemies, that we are ready, able and willing to keep our word and not throw our friends under the bus for po-litical gains; that will not apologize to terrorists for being a free nation, when they are doing their very best to kill Americans or anyone else that happens to disagree with them or their religion; and that remembers he is a public ser-vant, not a dictator.

Robbie Maxwell, Huntington


■ “Top Shot” contestant Dustin Ellermann takes target practice with Zavalla ISD archery team.■ A 23-year-old Lufkin man is charged with arson stemming from a fire set on the porch of his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend’s home.

Ten Years Ago■ Memorial Health Systems of East Texas raises funds to refurbish all patient rooms — need about $1.85 million.■ Lufkin, county mourn the loss of popular Lufkin High School football Coach Jim Kegler, who has

taught all levels of football from pee-wee to high school.

Twenty Years Ago■ Lufkin ISD trustees consider proposal that would utilize the closed Redland Elementary School campus for several administrative depart-ments and teacher training center.■ Barbara Murphy of “The Rotations” gymnastic team from the Lufkin Gymnastic Center wins silver medal All-Around at the Junior Ark-La-Tex Festival competition held in Shreveport.



Today is Thursday, Sept. 27, the 271st day of 2012. There are 95 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Sept. 27, 1962, “Silent Spring,” Ra-

chel Carson’s groundbreaking as well as controversial study on the effects of pesticides on the environment, was pub-lished in book form by Houghton Mif-flin.

On this date:In 1540, Pope Paul III issued a papal

bull establishing the Society of Jesus, or

Jesuits, as a religious order.In 1779, John Adams was named by

Congress to negotiate the Revolutionary War’s peace terms with Britain.

In 1854, the first great disaster involv-ing an Atlantic Ocean passenger vessel occurred when the steamship SS Arctic sank off Newfoundland; of the more than 400 people on board, only 86 sur-vived.

In 1862, during the Civil War, the Union Army’s first all-black regiment, the self-described “Chasseurs d’Afrique” (Hunt-ers of Africa), was formed in New Or-leans (which was then under Northern

control).In 1928, the United States said it was

recognizing the Nationalist Chinese gov-ernment.

In 1939, Warsaw, Poland, surrendered after weeks of resistance to invading forces from Nazi Germany and the So-viet Union during World War II.

In 1941, the United States launched 14 rapidly built “Liberty” military cargo vessels.

In 1942, Glenn Miller and his Orches-tra performed together for the last time, at the Central Theater in Passaic, N.J., prior to Miller’s entry into the Army.


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In 2007, the Texas Legisla-ture increased funding for Texas Department of Criminal

Justice alternative programs for incarceration, halfway houses for parolees, and expanded substance abuse treatment programs for both inmates and parolees. Those programs included expanding drug and alcohol treatment pro-grams, and re-entry initiatives.

Based on a study recently released by the Council of State Governments Justice Center, those efforts and the costs as-sociated with the programs have borne fruit.

Comparing inmates paroled or released in 2000 with those released or paroled in 2007, when the programs began, the recidivism rate dropped about 22 percent. In 2000, 31.2 percent of released or paroled inmates re-entered the Texas justice system. In 2007, that rate had been reduced to 24 percent.

That decrease meant 1,212 fewer felons came back to prison for new offenses; in other words, at least 1,212 fewer Texans and their families were victims of criminal activity. Another way to look at the number is the amount

of money Texas taxpayers saved instead of paying to house those inmates in Texas prisons.

Brad Livingstone, the executive director of TDJC, recognizes that while the results are encouraging, there is more work to be done. That will require continued fund-ing by the Legislature.

The Texas economy is improv-ing, but fiscal demands will con-tinue to be a major issue when the next Legislature convenes in Austin in January. There will be enormous pressure on the lawmakers, many who will be representing their district for the first time, to balance the budget against what surely will be a demand for increased services.

Funding rehabilitation ef-forts, especially ones that have been proven to work, should be an easy decision to make. When you balance the reduction in the recidivism rate against the known cost of housing an inmate and the tangible and intangible costs that victims of crime suffer, continued and hopefully increased funding of rehabilitation efforts make sense. We hope the next Legisla-ture will agree.

Inmate RehabilitationAlternative programs for incarceration

appear to be reducing recidivism

The Joint Commission … Who?If you have ever investigated your

healthcare options, read a health-care article or talked with a health-

care professional, chances are you have heard of The Joint Commission (JC), formerly re-ferred to as JCA-HO (pronounced Jayco). But do you know who they are and what they do?

According to The Joint Commis-sion’s Web site, the independent, not-for-profit organization was founded in 1951 with the mission to continuously improve healthcare for the public, in collaboration with other stake-holders, by evaluating healthcare orga-nizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value.

There are more than 19,000 U.S. healthcare organizations and programs that are accredited and certified by JC. To receive The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval, these organizations

must undergo an on-site survey from JC’s survey team every three years. Ac-cording to the Department of Health and Human Services, JC is one of the few accreditation agencies that the Social Security Act by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regards as having satisfied Medicare’s health and safety standards. Therefore, the agency is assuring that the hospitals it accredits meet or exceed the standards of Medicare.

In addition to accreditations and cer-tifications, JC also has a Top Performers on Key Quality Measures™ program that recognizes accredited hospitals that attain excellence on accountability measure performance. This program is based on information from facilities about processes that are shown to be the best treatments for certain conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, surgical care and pneumonia, among others.

Last month, 620 U.S. hospitals were recognized as a Top Performers on Key Quality Measures™. These facilities rep-resent the top 18 percent of more than 3,400 eligible Joint Commission-accred-

ited hospitals reporting data for 2011. Of those 620 Top Performers, 244 of them were honored with the distinction for a second straight year. I am happy to state that Woodland Heights Medical Center was the only hospital in the Lufkin/Nacogdoches area to receive this award both years. Not only was the facility a Top Performer for both years, Woodland Heights was recognized in all four core measures: heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care — one of only 87 hospitals to accomplish this. For a full list of 2012 winners, you can visit The Joint Commission’s website at www.jointcommission.org.

This is not just another award to add to the trophy case, but evidence of Woodland Heights’ commitment to safe, effective care. In last month’s article, I spoke about quality healthcare, and we are honored to have The Joint Commis-sion confirm our pledge to our patients, allowing us to uphold our mission state-ment: To be the leader in service excel-lence and quality.

Casey Robertson is the CEO of Woodland Heights Medical Center. His email address is

[email protected].

Coulter’s book examines race cardsIf you are sick and tired of seeing

politicians and others playing the race card, or if you are just disgusted

with the grossly dishonest way racial is-sues in general are portrayed, then you should get a copy of Ann Coulter’s new book, “Mugged.” Its subtitle is: “Ra-cial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama.”

Few things are as rare as an hon-est book about race. This is one of the very few, and one of the very best.

Many people will learn for the first time from Ann Coulter’s book how a drunken hoodlum and ex-convict, who tried to attack the police, was turned into a victim and a martyr by the media, simply by editing a videotape and broad-casting that edited version, over and over, across the nation.

They will learn how a jury — which saw the whole unedited videotape and acquitted the police officers of wrong-doing — was portrayed as racist, setting off riots that killed innocent people who had nothing to do with the Rodney King episode.

Meanwhile, the people whose slick ed-iting set off this chain of events received a Pulitzer Prize.

Even the Republican President of the United States, George H.W. Bush, ex-pressed surprise at the jury’s verdict, after seeing the edited videotape, while the jury saw the whole unedited video-

tape. Even Presidents should keep their mouths shut when they don’t know all the facts. Perhaps especially Presidents.

Innumerable other examples of racial events and issues that have been twisted and distorted beyond recognition are untangled and revealed for the frauds that they are in “Mugged.”

The whole history of the role of the Democrats and the Republicans in black civil rights issues is taken apart and ex-amined, showing with documented fact after documented fact how the truth turns out repeatedly to be the opposite of what has been portrayed in most of the media.

It has long been a matter of official re-cord that a higher percentage of Repub-licans than Democrats, in both Houses of Congress, voted for the landmark civil rights legislation of the 1960s. Yet the great legend has come down to us that Democrats created the civil rights revolution, over the opposition of the Republicans.

Since this all happened nearly half a century ago, even many Republicans to-day seem unaware of the facts, and are defensive about their party’s role on ra-cial issues, while Democrats boldly wrap themselves in the mantle of blacks’ only friends and defenders.

To puff up their role as defenders of blacks, it has been necessary for Demo-crats and their media supporters to hype the dangers of “racists.” This has led to some very creative ways of defining and portraying people as “racists.” Ann Coulter has a whole chapter titled “You Racist!” with examples of how extreme and absurd this organized name-calling

can become.No book about race would be com-

plete without an examination of the role of character assassination in racial politics. One of the classic injustices re-vealed by Ann Coulter’s book is the case of Charles Pickering, a white Republi-can in Mississippi, who prosecuted the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1960s.

Back in those days, opposing the Ku Klux Klan meant putting your life, and the lives of your family members, at risk. The FBI had to guard Pickering and his family. Later, Pickering went on to become a federal judge and, in 2001, President George W. Bush nominated him for promotion to the Circuit Court of Appeals.

As a Republican judge, Pickering was opposed by elite liberal Democrats in Congress and in the media who, in Ann Coulter’s words, “sent their children to 99-percent white private schools” while “Pickering sent his kids to overwhelm-ingly black Mississippi public schools.”

Among the charges against Picker-ing was that he was bad on civil rights issues. Older black leaders in Mississip-pi, who had known Pickering for years, sprang to his defense. But who cared what they said? Pickering’s nomination was defeated on a smear.

“Mugged” is more than an informa-tive book. It is a whole education about the difference between rhetoric and reality when it comes to racial issues. It is a much needed, and even urgently needed education, with a national elec-tion just weeks away.

Thomas Sowell writes for Creators Syndicate.

TOdAY in hisTOrY






OCTOBER 9One YeAr AGO

■ Lufkin’s eighth annual Heritage Festival brings different cultural diversity together.■ Nacogdoches’ famed train depot, once a way station for WW I and WW II soldiers headed to Europe or the Pacific, once again opens its doors as a museum.

Ten YeArs AGO■ Lufkin ISD details racial progress at town hall meeting■ Angelina County Commissioner Allen Sumners

states he will sue the county after the County Commissioners Court refuses to reimburse him for legal expenses related to his trial earlier this year.

TWenTY YeArs AGO■ Congressman Charles Wilson prepares for his annual 42 domino tournament, the world’s largest 42 tournament with 1,500 players from across East Texas.■ Angelina County Sheriff’s Office investigates fire in Hudson High School’s Science Building boys’ restroom. Fire damage is $600.

From the pages of The Lufkin Daily News, compiled by The History Center, www.TheHistoryCenterOnline.com.


Today is Tuesday, Oct. 9, the 283rd day of 2012. There are 83 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Oct. 9, 1967, Latin American guer-

rilla leader Che Guevara was killed by the Bolivian army a day after he was captured while attempting to incite revo-lution.

On this date:In 1446, the Korean alphabet, created

under the aegis of King Sejong, was first published.

In 1776, a group of Spanish missionar-ies settled in present-day San Francisco.

In 1888, the public was first admitted to the Washington Monument.

In 1910, a coal dust explosion at the Starkville Mine in Colorado left 56 min-ers dead.

In 1930, Laura Ingalls became the first woman to fly across the United States as she completed a nine-stop journey from Roosevelt Field, N.Y., to Glendale, Calif.

In 1936, the first generator at Boulder (later Hoover) Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles.

In 1940, rock and roll legend John Len-non was born in Liverpool, England.

In 1946, the Eugene O’Neill drama “The Iceman Cometh” opened at the Martin Beck Theater in New York.

In 1958, Pope Pius XII died at age 82, ending a 19-year papacy. (He was suc-ceeded by Pope John XXIII.)

In 1962, Uganda won autonomy from British rule.


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The Supreme Court in 2003 upheld the use of race as a factor in the admissions process used by U.S. col-

lege and universities. In the nine years since, we believe, affirmative action has outlived its usefulness.

On Wednesday, the nation’s top court began considering a related case — a lawsuit filed by Abigail Fisher, a 22-year-old white woman who contends the University of Texas discriminated against her by declining her admission in 2008. (She has since earned a finance degree from Louisiana State University and is working in Austin.)

The University of Texas gets three-quarters of its students through a program that guaran-tees admission to the top students in every high school in the Lone Star State. The university uses race as a factor in admitting the other one-fourth of its incoming students, and is arguing that it must be allowed to continue to do so in order to achieve a healthy balance in the diversity of its cam-pus population.

It remains to be seen whether the Supreme Court will rule in Fisher’s favor, effectively gutting the 2003 ruling. It seems clear, based on both his history and his comments Wednesday, that Justice Anthony Kennedy is likely to vote against the UT process. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who wrote the majority opinion in

2003, is retired, and her successor, Justice Samuel Alito, also appears likely to side with Fisher, accord-ing to an Associated Press story Wednesday.

We’d like to see the 2003 decision overturned. We believe it is not fair to consider race or ethnicity as a reason a student should or should not be admitted — even, as in the case of the University of Texas, in only 25 percent of the cases.

Affirmative action has served its purpose. We believe few bar-riers remain for students of all color and ethnicities who want to achieve entry to most any public university if they’ll just place heavy focus (and a significant amount of midnight oil) on their studies. The Supreme Court should recognize that.

“I’m hoping,” Fisher said in a New York Times story this week, “that they’ll completely take race out of the issue in terms of admissions and that everyone will be able to get into any school that they want no matter what race they are but solely based on their merit and if they work hard for it.”

Universities like UT and Texas A&M are bursting at the seams. There are reasons those huge schools have to limit enrollment and tell a good number of kids that they can’t come. The color of their skin should not be one of those reasons.

Affirmative ActionNine-year-old ruling has served its purpose; Supreme Court should overturn use of race

FYI: What does city do with recycled tires?Q : What is done with the tires that

were turned in for recycling dur-ing last month’s Tire and Elec-

tronic Recycle Day?A: According to

Amanda Ander-son, director of An-gelina Beautiful/Clean, more than 4,000 tires were col-lected during the Annual Tire and Electronic Recycle Day. Collected tires are shipped to Pitts-burgh-based Liberty Tire and Recycling, where they are processed and refined for a variety of applications, including molded rubber goods, adhesives, paving and landscaping applications and ath-letic fields.

Q: What are the salaries of the county judge and county commissioners?

A: According to county documents, the county judge earns $48,106 with a salary supplement of $15,000 and a trav-el allowance of $4,930. The four county commissioners each make $53,996.

Q: How can I find out what Woodland Heights Medical Center and Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin charge for treat-ment?

A: A website sponsored by the Austin-

based Texas Hospital Association allows consumers to view and compare prices on inpatient hospital services at Memo-rial, Woodland Heights or any Texas hos-pital. The Texas PricePoint website at www.txpricepoint.org includes charge information on the most common inpa-tient services, links to data and general information on any Texas hospital.

Q: How many people in Angelina County are on food stamps?

A: According to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, 14,737 Angelina County residents received benefits in September under the Supple-mental Nutrition Assistance Program, what used to be known as the food stamp program.

Broken down by age, 2,723 recipients were under 5 years of age, 5,213 recipi-ents were ages 5-17, 5,765 recipients were ages 18-59, 327 recipients were ages 60-64 and 709 recipients were over 64 years of age.

The total food benefit payments for Angelina County recipients in Septem-ber was about $1.68 million. SNAP eli-gibility rules require that participants be at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level.

Q: Is Wi-Fi available at parks in Lufkin?

A: According to Sid Munlin, the city’s

information technology director, Morris Frank Park, Chambers Park and Bran-don Park all have areas where Wi-Fi is available to the public.

Other city-owned facilities that have Wi-Fi available include Lufkin City Hall, Kurth Memorial Library, the Pitser Gar-rison Convention Center and the George H. Henderson, Jr. Exposition Center. Munlin said an area of downtown Lufkin, primarily along First Street, also has Wi-Fi accessible to the public.

Q: Why are people allowed to bring their dogs to parks in Lufkin?

A: Jason Arnold, assistant director of the parks and recreation department, said parks are for everyone, including those who own dogs. He said dogs must be kept on a leash and the owner must be in control of the dog as well as clean up after the dog. In addition, Arnold said parents should inform their children not to approach any dogs they are not famil-iar with.



TxDOT working to curb distracted driversIt was two years ago that the Texas

Department of Transportation launched its

Text.Talk.Crash. campaign in an effort to educate motorists and curb their distracted driving habits. While we’ve seen a slight decline in crashes and fatali-ties in Texas, dis-tracted driving is to blame for thou-sands of wrecks an-nually – mainly because many drivers don’t think that their non-driving activi-ties interfere with their driving. Statis-tics beg to differ.

From texting and talking on a cell phone to eating, changing the radio, put-ting on make-up and talking to passen-gers, motorists continue to find things to occupy their attention other than the task at hand — driving. How many times have you caught yourself busying about in the vehicle and having that “whoa” moment where you realize you haven’t

been paying attention to the road for at least a few seconds? Or, that moment where you’re so busy typing a text that you look up and you’re drifting toward oncoming traffic? Perhaps it was that moment that you took your eyes off the road while talking to passengers and had to jam on the brakes to keep from hitting the vehicle stopped at the red light.

It really shouldn’t take “whoa” mo-ments to get us to give driving our full attention, especially when we know the devastating effects of distracted driving.

In Texas:■ In 2011, 81,103 crashes involved dis-

traction in a vehicle, driver inattention or cell-phone use — 361 were fatal.

■ 3,147 crashes were attributed to cell phone use in 2011 — 40 were fatal.

■ Nearly one in four crashes involves driver distraction.

Parents, do you know that studies by the Texas Transportation Institute re-veal that 46 percent of urban teens and 52 percent of rural teens talk on a cell phone while driving? And that 42 per-cent of urban teens and 48 percent of rural teens text while driving? Statistics show that teen drivers are more likely

than other age groups to be involved in a fatal crash where distraction is re-ported.

A recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study shows that 54 percent of motorists said their driv-ing was no different when talking on the phone. But did you know that research indicates that talking on the phone saps the brain of 39 percent of the energy it would ordinarily devote to safe driving? Or that using a cell phone while driving delays your reaction time as much as be-ing legally drunk?

So as we work to provide the safest transportation system possible, we so-licit the help of all drivers in our efforts to educate Texans and raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving. Change your perception, your mental-ity, whatever it takes to ensure that your loved ones and others reach their desti-nations safely. Make the pledge and ask friends and family members to join you in kicking the habit. Remember, Text.Talk.Crash. Be safe!

Kathi White is the media liaison with TxDOT’s Lufkin District office.

Her email address is [email protected].

TOdAY in hisTOrY

have your sayTo submit a letter to the editor, bring it to

us at 300 Ellis Ave. in downtown Lufkin, mail it to P.O. Box 1089, Lufkin, TX 75902-1089, or visit an easy-to-use form at lufkindailynews.com/letters. Or you can email your letter to [email protected].

Please limit your letters to 350 words.Be sure to include a daytime telephone

number on your letter.All letters are subject to editing for length


OCTOBER 11One year ago

■ Angelina College considers construction of mall-type walkway leading from the administra-tion building to the new Health Careers Building.■ Pineywoods Audubon Society host field trip to Kurth Lake for novice bird watchers.

Ten years ago■ U.S. District Judge John Hannah won’t face charges for allegedly pushing Diboll Police officer.■ Angelina County Appraisal District’s board of

directors approves joining statewide purchasing cooperative.

Twenty years ago■ Construction work begins on $6.1 million overpass construction at Loop 287 and State Highway 94.■ Lufkin Police Department and area law agen-cies crack down on bootleg liquor sales at 11 locations in town.



Today is Thursday, Oct. 11, the 285th day of 2012. There are 81 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Oct. 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII

convened the first session of the Ro-man Catholic Church’s Second Vatican Council, also known as “Vatican 2.”

On this date:In 1779, Polish nobleman Casimir

Pulaski, fighting for American indepen-dence, died two days after being wound-ed during the Revolutionary War Battle of Savannah, Ga.

In 1811, the first steam-powered ferry-

boat, the Juliana (built by John Stevens), was put into operation between New York City and Hoboken, N.J.

In 1862, during the Civil War, Confed-erate forces led by Gen. J.E.B. Stuart looted the town of Chambersburg, Pa.

In 1890, the Daughters of the Ameri-can Revolution was founded in Washing-ton, D.C.

In 1910, Theodore Roosevelt became the first former U.S. president to fly in an airplane during a visit to St. Louis, Mo.

In 1932, the first American political telecast took place as the Democratic National Committee sponsored a pro-gram from a CBS television studio in New York.

In 1942, the World War II Battle of Cape Esperance began in the Solomon Islands, resulting in an American vic-tory over the Japanese.

In 1958, the lunar probe Pioneer 1 was launched; it failed to go as far out as planned, fell back to Earth, and burned up in the atmosphere.

In 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Ful-ton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard. The government of Panama was overthrown in a military coup.

In 1984, space shuttle Challenger as-tronaut Kathryn Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space.


3aopinionLuFKindAiLYneWs.COmThursdAY, OCTOber 11, 2012 THE LUFKIN NEWS


sTeve KnighT

KAThi WhiTe

Big government or not big govern-ment? Big business or not big b u s i n e s s ?

These are the ques-tions. To constitu-tionally give the government the authority to “form a more perfect Union,” “establish justice,” “insure domestic tranquili-ty,” “provide for the common defense,” “promote the general welfare” and “se-cure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” is a wise and appro-priate means of managing a super na-tion like the United States of America.

To inappropriately and unwisely al-low Big Business to form a competitive union, which can (and usually does) lead to injustice; eventually leading to domestic agitation; having no means of providing for the common defense; that is only interested in corporate wel-fare by hoarding their mostly inherited wealth and securing the blessings of lib-erty to themselves and their posterity is the epitome of a Waterloo for any nation.

The bigger the government, the more it is equipped to carry out the duties the Constitution mandates it to do. In a like manner, when business becomes too big, corruption is inevitable. Time and time again in the history of this country we have seen corporate bosses go to prison, corporate officers committing suicide and corporate employees fighting for de-cent wages.

The cold fact is that there is no prec-edent for the establishment of Big Busi-ness in this country. The ordainment and establishment of big business is not commissioned by the Constitution of the United States. Even though the Supreme Court, in my opinion, has wrongly ruled

that big business and people are the same, it would be chaotic for big busi-ness to take over the government.

In this presidential race we have es-sentially two choices, viz., so-called Big Government and Big Business. Big gov-ernment will insure and promote the general Welfare of the constituents of this great country. Big Business will se-cure the welfare of the rich of this coun-try while the poor and less fortunate become poorer.

The question becomes, then, not whether we have big government or big business, but whether this country will be run by business or government. Gov-ernment, big or small, has always been the rule of the day since the establish-ment of this country. Business has failed to replace government, although over the years it has desperately tried.

Realistically, the government, having been established by “the People” be-comes more of a provider of the welfare of the populace than big business.

So abides Big Business and Big Gov-ernment: But the greatest of these is Big Government.

Dallas Pierre, DDS, is a regular contributor to the Opinion page of The Lufkin News.

Making a choice between Big Government, Big Business

dALLAs pierre

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luFkindAilynews.comsundAy, ocTober 14, 2012 the lufkin news

A job well doneI would like to take this opportunity to commend

the Solid Waste Services Department of the City of Lufkin for a job well done. Over the Labor Day holi-days I had to replace some carpet, padding, etc., in a house damaged by water. Having no other way of disposing of these things, I had to put these things on the street for pickup. Tuesday morning I called the Solid Waste Department and put in a work or-der for pick up. The items were indeed picked up on Wednesday and the area was left very, very clean.

Recently, I had to place more waste on the curb for pickup. I called on Friday and it was picked up on Wednesday. I drive up streets of Lufkin and see trash that has been on the streets for days or weeks on end. That is not the fault of the Solid Waste De-partment. If the order is called in to them, they do a good job of picking things up. We could all keep Lufkin a clean place to live if everyone would clean up around their own houses and yards and call in a work order to the City for pickup. I say again “Thank You” Solid Waste Department for a job well done to keep Lufkin clean. Just call them and see how well they work.

Lou Allen, Lufkin

Improve customer serviceSo, my taxpayer money went to a bank that

turns around and charges me for every single ser-vice that I receive as a customer of their bank, at inflated fees?

You may ask at this point, “Well, why don’t you just change banks?”

As of this week I finally have, but I have a feel-ing that, like me, most people do not know the facts and continue to patronize those large banks that have no problem taking your money. At a time in our history when people are struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families, I think it is time for we as a society to stand up and hold or-ganizations that are in existence because of us as the consumer to a high standard and return to true “customer service.”

Kimberly DeWitt, Lufkin

Reviving this great countryHow do we revive our great nation? We all as

Americans need to band together to return Ameri-ca back to her former glory. In 1776, for the people, by the people, wrote the greatest Declaration of Independence in history. We were guaranteed a republican form of government and put God first. We, the people, great or small, rich or poor, need to step up and remember our fore fathers and our fathers that have given everything for this nation, including their lives.

All Americans, regardless of race or religion, have one thing in common: freedom and the right to ensure these freedoms to our generations to come.

Once it was said, “Give me freedom or give me death,” but now it seems like “Give me money so I can release your debt.”

Let us all, every United States American, stand up for our rights and freedom and revive our great nation to glory. Now vote!

Keith D. Bailey, Lufkin

Andy AdamsEditor










Tara Watson-Watkins, executive director of the Lufkin Conven-tion and Visitors Bureau, seems to have a hot hand right now.

Consider these recent or upcoming events:

■ Lufkin’s Bistro — The third version of this food and wine event, held last Sat-urday night on the streets of downtown Lufkin, was sold out, just like the first two. This time, though, the Lufkin CVB made 800 tickets available and still had to have a waiting list.

■ Walmart FLW Tour Open fishing tournament — As we wrote in a story in Friday’s edition, James Slack and the late Dr. Bill Shelton had a lot to do with bringing such a major, professional fishing event to Angelina County, but Watson-Watkins played a big part, too. She helped convince the Lufkin CVB board (including Greg Shrader, publisher of The Lufkin News, who was a member at the time) to put up local hotel/motel sales tax money to lure the tournament here this week, and it has paid off, by the looks of things.

■ Pines Theater grand opening — The city of Lufkin has put a lot of effort (and taxpayer dollars) into refurbishing the downtown Lufkin theater, and the Lufkin CVB is planning to make the most of it. Tickets for the grand opening event — a performance by Irish Tenor Paul Byrom on Dec. 1 — have gone fast. You can check to see if any are left by calling Watson-Watkins at 633-0349 or Alyssa Massingill at 633-0359, but there are only 431 seats in the theater. It may be too late.

The Lufkin Convention and Visitors Bureau’s most important function, as far as the local economy is concerned, is to put “heads in beds” — something that benefits the city’s hotels but also puts money back into the hotel/motel sales tax fund. The three events listed above all have the capacity to do that. (Apparently, there’s a lot of Paul Byrom fans in Texas who pay attention to when he’s going to be anywhere in the state and jump on the tickets when they become available.)

But the events promoted by the Lufkin CVB also need heavy local support, and Watson-Watkins has been able to achieve that for the most part, as well. There was a decent local crowd at Cassels-Boykin Park near Zavalla (about a 35-minute drive from Lufkin) for the first weigh-in of the big fishing tournament on Thurs-day, but we’d like to see more Angelina County residents come out. It’s not too late: Take a Sunday drive out to the lake after church this morning, or just come out to the weigh-in at 4 p.m. today at Walmart.

We were especially proud, as was James Slack, with the praise the fishing pros have given to the Cassels-Boykin facilities this week. Sam Rayburn Reser-voir, as famous as it is for its great bass fishing, has been largely untapped as a Lufkin-area tourism resource, but that’s changing quickly. So has downtown Lufkin, but that’s clearly not the case anymore, either, and we offer a toast to Watson-Watkins and others who have been involved in its resurgence.

They Love Lufkin

People are visiting city, Angelina County in droves due to events promoted by CVB

Protecting Neches vital to East Texas’ futureIn your day-to-day busi-

ness, I’ll bet you never have contact with the

Neches River, unless you drive over it on state Highway 103 west, Highway 94 west, or U.S. 59 south below Diboll. What you will see is a sign designat-ing the “Neches River.” And you may take a quick look to see how high or low the wa-ter is. The stretch I’m talking about runs from Lake Palestine through Angelina County to BA Steinhagen Reservoir (Dam B if you speak East Texan.)

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson has initiated a three-year study to consider designating this stretch as a “Wild and Scenic River.” What does this designa-tion mean and why should you care, you say? Pri-marily I would say it is to preserve the river as we know it today.

Angelina County sells more hunting and fishing licenses than any county in Texas and a big part of

those are to people from Houston and outside this area. In other words, the “little thought of” river is the basis for substantial economic development. The river is the lifeblood of countless species of birds and animals.

The main organization opposing the designation is the Texas Forestry Association saying, mainly, it will intrude on their ability to market timber in the vicinity of the river. Untrue!

Ownership of property remains in individual hands to be used virtually any way possible. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not for government inter-ference in local business any more than the next person.

But this designation will protect the river way better than any of us individually.

My biggest fear is that Dallas will build a dam approximately where the river intersects Highway 103 west. When that happens, there will be no tree harvesting, or hunting, or camping on thousands of acres. Ever.

There will be an untold loss of wildlife and loss of a major flyway for migrating birds. The Neches

River has been named one of the 10 most endan-gered rivers in the United States.

Lufkin was named the No. 1 place to live in the U.S. by Outdoor Sports Magazine for outdoor rec-reational opportunities. It was also named the No. 1 micropolitan in Texas partially for our natural spaces to hike and camp.

If this dam gets built, and it will eventually with-out this designation, East Texas will have lost for-ever its unique wild and scenic river in our back yard.

On balance, the greater good will be served for the people of East Texas to embrace this “Wild and Scenic” designation for the benefit of future gen-erations.

A wise man once said, “We place no value on things we don’t understand.” Learn more about our river! You can Google it and all kinds of infor-mation will come up. And, you can join Friends of the Neches, one of the main groups working to save our river.

Jack Gorden served on the lufkin City Council from 1990 to 2000 and as mayor of lufkin from 2001 to 2012.


TodAy in hisTory



Too big to fail? Or maintain?


Today is Sunday, Oct. 14, the 288th day of 2012. There are 78 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Oct. 14, 1912, former President Theodore

Roosevelt, campaigning for the White House as the Progressive candidate, was shot in the chest in Mil-waukee by New York saloonkeeper John Schrank. Despite the wound, Roosevelt went ahead with a scheduled speech, declaring, “It takes more than one bullet to kill a bull moose.”

On this date:In 1066, Normans under William the Conqueror

defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings.In 1586, Mary, Queen of Scots, went on trial in

England, accused of committing treason against Queen Elizabeth I. (Mary was beheaded in Febru-ary 1587.)

In 1908, the E.M. Forster novel “A Room With a View” was first published by Edward Arnold of London.

In 1939, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the HMS Royal Oak, a British battleship anchored at Scapa Flow in Scotland’s Orkney Islands; 833 of the more than 1,200 men aboard were killed.

In 1944, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.

In 1947, Air Force test pilot Charles E. (“Chuck”) Yeager broke the sound barrier as he flew the ex-perimental Bell XS-1 (later X-1) rocket plane over Muroc Dry Lake in California.

OCTOBER 14one year ago

■ Preparations are being made for the 2011 Pineywoods Cattle Baron Gala benefitting the American Cancer society with Baron tickets selling for $225 and wrangler tickets selling for $150. the gala will be hosted at the todd farm.■ the City of lufkin Parks & Recreation Department accepts registrations for cheerleading classes being taught by instruc-tor Amanda Castillo.

Ten years ago■ three former lufkinites, Robert ‘Butch’ Mcentire, ken Carter and Bill Young soar to new heights with texas Radio hall of fame inductions.■ simon Aguilar and incumbent kenneth timmons face off in battle for the Angelina County Precinct 2 commissioner’s job.

Twenty years ago■ no-Pass, no-Play sidelines 1985 lufkin isD students from extra-curricular activities for the current grading period.■ local minister Maximo Alamo at iglesia de Cristo blessed the lottery ticket he helped a friend buy and opened it up to find they won $10,000. Alamo refused any of the winnings.

from the pages of the lufkin Daily news, compiled by the history Center, www.Thehistorycenteronline.com.

DALLAS — If in four weeks a president-elect Mitt Romney is

seeking a Treasury secre-tary, he should look here, to Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Candidate Romney can enhance his chance of having this choice to make by embracing a simple proposi-tion from Fisher: Systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs), meaning too-big-to-fail (TBTF) banks, are “too dangerous to permit.”

Romney almost did this in the first debate when he said Dodd-Frank’s designation of TBTF banks makes them “effectively guaranteed by the federal government” and constitutes “the biggest kiss that’s been given to — to New York banks I’ve ever seen.” Fisher, who has a flair for rhetorical pun-gency, is more crisp:

There are 6,000 American banks but “half of the entire banking industry’s assets” are concentrated in five institutions whose combined assets equate to almost 60 percent of GDP. And “the top 10 banks now account for 61 percent of commercial banking assets, substantially more than the 26 percent of only 20 years ago.”

The problems posed by “supersized and hyper-complex banks” may, Fisher says, require anti-obe-sity policies equivalent to “irreversible lap-band or gastric bypass surgery.” The land of TBTFs is “a perverse financial Lake Wobegon” where all crises are “exceptional,” justifying “unique” solutions that are the same, meaning bailouts. This incurs “the wrath of ordinary citizens and smaller enti-ties that resent this favorable treatment, and we plant the seeds of social unrest.”

Fisher cites Andrew Haldane of the Bank of England who calculates this: The assumption that certain banks have implicit TBTF status gives them preferential access to investment capital. In 2009, these silent subsidies enjoyed by TBTFs worldwide approached $2.3 trillion in value. Haldane notes a parallel between financial systems and epidemio-logical networks: Normal epidemiology involves “focusing preventive action on ‘super-spreaders’ within the network to limit the potential for sys-temwide spread.”

Endorsing the axiom (attributed to Napoleon) that one should “never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence,” Fisher says TBTF banks “are sprawling and complex — so vast that their own management teams may not fully understand their own risk exposures, provid-ing fertile ground for unintended ‘incompetence.’” Fisher’s rejoinder to those who impute “economies of scale” to such banks is that there also are “dis-economies of scale.” Fisher, among many others, believes the component parts of the biggest banks would be “worth more broken up than as a whole.”

Furthermore, the economy suffers as indefen-sible preferences multiply. In an essay, “Choosing the Road to Prosperity: Why We Must End Too Big To Fail — Now,” Harvey Rosenblum of the Dallas Fed’s Research Department notes that “people dis-illusioned with capitalism aren’t as eager to engage in productive activities.” The desire to strive is in-versely proportional to the suspicion that the game is rigged. Rosenblum adds:

“For all its bluster, Dodd-Frank leaves TBTF en-trenched. ... In fact, the financial crisis increased concentration because some TBTF institutions acquired the assets of other troubled TBTF insti-tutions. The TBTF survivors of the financial crisis look a lot like they did in 2008. They maintain cor-porate cultures based on the short-term incentives of fees and bonuses derived from increased oligop-oly power.”

At bottom, the TBTF phenomenon raises ques-tions not merely about the financial system but about the nature of the American regime. These are Jacksonian questions, implicating issues Old Hickory raised in 1832 when vetoing the Second Bank of the United States: Should the government be complicit in protecting — and by doing so, en-larging — huge economic interests?

Capitalism — which is, as Milton Friedman tirelessly insisted, a profit and loss system — is subverted by TBTF, which socializes losses while leaving profits private. And which enhances the profits of those whose losses it socializes. TBTF is a double moral disaster: It creates moral hazard by encouraging risky behavior, and it delegitimizes capitalism by validating public cynicism about its risk-reward ratios.

It is inexplicable politics and regrettable policy that Romney has, so far, flinched from a forthright endorsement of breaking up the biggest banks. This stance by him would be credible because of his background and would be intelligible to vot-ers because of its clarity. As the campaign reach-es what should be a satisfying culmination, they would be astonished by, and grateful for, the infu-sion of a fresh thought into the deluge of painfully familiar boilerplate. Having tiptoed close to where Fisher stands, Romney still has time to remember Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s axiom that in war all di-sasters can be explained by two words: “Too late.”



jAck gorden

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Andy AdamsEditor










It was a rough weekend for those of us who happen to be fans of the Lufkin Panthers, the Texas Longhorns/Baylor

Bears and the Dallas Cowboys/Houston Texans football teams, but we’re hanging in there. Hope-fully the weeks ahead will be better; in the meantime, here’s our weekly roundup of toasts and roasts:

A toast to the group of Ange-lina County employees, including County Clerk JoAnn Chastain, for asking the county commis-sioners’ court to consider making the downtown county courthouse smoke-free. One of the group’s concerns is that the constant sec-ondhand smoke will cause some employees to test positive for tobacco, resulting in an extra $40 per month in health insurance costs. While we hope the smoke isn’t that bad, we would like to see the commissioners address the is-sue. We agree with County Judge Wes Suiter that making the court-house completely smoke-free might not be reasonable, since jurors and witnesses are rou-tinely summoned to appear for hours at a time, but we do feel like there has to be a way to restrict smoking around the entrance to the courthouse on the downtown square. The automatic doors tend to trap smoke inside the lobby of the courthouse — not to mention the county clerk’s office that is right there — and it’s more than annoying to the non-smokers inside. It’s unhealthy.

A toast to the Diboll High School students who were rec-ognized last week for breaking their Power of Life team’s blood donation record. The Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center honored the team during its annual Edu-cation Workshop. Diboll seniors

Cassity Glass, Alexis Gordon and Logan Gilbert accepted the award, but other kids have helped expand the school district’s blood drives to its junior high campus, high school campus and adminis-tration building. And they seem to be doing it for the right reason: to save lives. “It’s not an excuse to get out of class anymore,” said LaDonna Garza, the H.G. Temple Elementary nurse who has been instrumental in the success of the program. “Now they understand they’re actually doing something to help somebody.” We applaud the Diboll students who have made a difference, and encour-age anyone who can give blood to attend the next scheduled drive, Oct. 26 at both Diboll High School and Diboll Junior High.

And a toast to all who made it possible for the Lufkin State Sup-ported Living Center to reopen its Woodland Retreat Pavilion on Saturday morning. Namely, that’s the Lufkin Host Lions Club, which used $50,000 of its Angelina Benefit Rodeo proceeds to pay for improvements to the structure, indoor bathrooms, paved walkways, ceiling fans and landscaping. (Disclosure: Editor Andy Adams is a member of the Lions Club and a former member of the Volunteer Services Council of the living center.) The center is limited in what it can do to enhance the lives of its residents, since its daily operations are funded by the state budget, so donations of time and money by members of our community are much appreciated. We know the residents of the Lufkin State Sup-ported Living Center are going to enjoy the scenery and activi-ties that the Woodland Retreat provides — especially with the recent enhancements.

Toasts & RoastsApplauding supporters of a smoke-free courthouse, community blood drives

and the Lufkin Living Center

Making school choice work for allAs our legislators prepare for the

upcoming Texas Legislative ses-sion, our elected and appointed

leaders have made it clear that they intend to address school choice. This comes from newly appointed Senate Education Chair, Dan Patrick, Lt. Gov., David De-whurst, our Sen., Robert Nichols, and newly appointed Texas Education Agency Commission-er, Michael Williams. These individuals believe that by allowing school vouch-ers our educational system somehow will improve. I applaud them for look-ing at options to address an educational system that does need to be overhauled. However, I find their motives and their true knowledge of how to educate chil-dren suspect at best.

First of all, let’s take a look at these officials’ backgrounds. None has been employed in the field of education. I am guessing that none has had a course dealing with the cognitive, affective and kinesthetic development of a child.

For the most part, they all have law or business backgrounds, where op-erations are black and white. They have the mentality that our pupils are all the same; akin to a product in the business world. Hence, their development of a “one size fits all” curriculum and testing system.

I find it amazingly ironic that the very

individuals who think that this type of system is best and do not allow op-tions for students or choice within the state system now think that education will somehow be improved by allowing vouchers. Surely, if public dollars are allowed to follow the child, then so will all of the public school state mandates? With this in mind, no private school would agree to take the public funds be-cause they would wish to maintain the right to develop and employ their own locally created curriculum, as well as the right to select students.

The students in inner city schools, who probably need more help than any-one, would not be able to afford private schools if they were given the state aver-age allocation of approximately $5,200 as they would have to fund the remaining tuition amount out of their own pockets. If they could afford that luxury, more than likely they would have already taken advantage of that or moved to an-other school district.

Next, let’s look at the true motives of these officials. All of these officials in my opinion are trying to make their elitist constituents happy by passing a voucher law to assist in their own children’s very expensive private school tuition. This is their attempt at school deregulation. Re-flect with me on how well deregulation worked in the telephone industry and the electricity industry.

We now have many choices, but the products are basically the same except the cost for these services has increased dramatically. If vouchers are allowed, the same will hold true for public edu-

cation. Public school dollars will be si-phoned out taking resources away from the students that need the help the most, thus creating a larger division between the economic classes.

If these leaders truly care about edu-cation, what they need to do is to give the reins back to local “independent” school districts and school officials that see students as unique human beings rather than as dollar signs or account-ability numbers. They need to create an accountability system with multiple measures and multiple graduation plans tailored for the skill sets for a diverse and multitalented student population.

It is safe to say that each of these aforementioned officials is a successful individual and that none of them had to endure a one-size fits all curriculum or testing system. If they want choice, let’s hope that they choose to go back to their educational roots. The pre-accountabil-ity system that worked for them also worked for America.

Finally, we already have school choice. Just like Bubba Gump had popcorn shrimp, broiled shrimp, baked shrimp, fried shrimp, etc… Parents have choic-es presently as they can choose public schools, private schools, charter schools, home schools, transfer options, etc.

Therefore legislators, please don’t use school choice as a topic to divert the dis-cussion from where it truly needs to be — curriculum and assessment reforma-tion and appropriate public school fund-ing.

Eric Wright is the superintendent for Huntington ISD. His email address is [email protected].

Child abuse always dishearteningAnytime there is an untimely

death of a child, an entire com-munity suffers and grieves that

loss. The recent murder trial brings this to light, be-cause this terrible incident occurred in our own back yard.

ZiKeishun “Zi” Lane was just 3 years old when he died. Although he was not served by CASA, his story is exceptionally disheartening to our Court Appointed Special Advocates. Our goal and duty is to protect the children, and when some-thing as horrific as an infant or child death or life debilitating injury occurs because of extreme abuse, we cannot ig-nore the problem.

Children are society’s most precious individuals. They also are the most vul-nerable, and too frequently victims of abuse and crimes. We should not allow

this. According to the 2011 Texas Depart-ment of Family and Protective Services, the state agency that watches out for our children, 60 percent of all children who are abused or neglected are under the age of 6. That is when children are most vulnerable.

So often we as a society focus on “stranger danger” discussions with our children. Sadly, the real danger is more often not a stranger, but someone who should care for and protect children.

According to the DFPS, here are the shocking statistics about those who harm children:

■ 78.2 percent — a parent■ 6.8 percent — a parent’s boyfriend

or girlfriend■ 4.3 percent — a grandparent■ 4.3 percent — a sibling or other rela-

tive■ 3.2 percent — an aunt or uncle■ 3.3 percent — a strangerThis alarming data shows that the

possibility of the perpetrator being a stranger is only a little over 3 percent.

I would like to commend our District

Attorney’s Office and the local law en-forcement agencies for their hard work on Zi’s case. It was evident in the court-room that all agencies were working to see that justice occurred for Zi and his family.

Of course we all wish there was a clear-cut, easy solution. Unfortunately, there is not, and it is too late for Zi and his family. However, it is easy for people to make a difference for vulnerable chil-dren:

■ Support legislation that protects victims and families.

■ Become involved in our community with organizations that help child abuse victims.

■ Report any suspected abuse by call-ing the child abuse hotline at 1-800-252-5400.

The Panel for the Promotion of Child Health says, “Children are one-third of our population and all of our future.” Let’s treat them as such.

Natalie Thornton is the executive director of CASA of Angelina County. Her email address is

[email protected].

TOdAY in hisTOrY

Economic recoveryI feel the government should get out

of the job creation field. As with any governmental program there are far too many rules and regulations, and bad decisions that have been made over the past three years. As a result this has cre-ated the massive unemployment fiasco we have in the country.

The government should step back and remove all the regulations that has been implemented on industry, and let the free enterprise system work as it always has. This would open up the job mar-kets again, putting people back to work. Which in turn would mean more reve-nue coming into the government coffers in Washington. The current way of do-ing business certainly has not worked.

Ray Gumm, Lufkin

Fighting drug abuseToday more than six million people

ages 12 or older have abused a prescrip-tion drug. One in ten youth ages 12 to 17, report having intentionally abused cough medicine just to get high. This October, The Coalition wants to help raise awareness about the dangers of prescription (Rx) drug abuse and over-the-counter (OTC) medicine abuse by taking part in National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month, observed annually in October.

National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month urges communities to educate parents and youth of the potential dan-gers associated with prescription and OTC medicine abuse.

According to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, since 2002 pre-scription drug abuse has jumped 20 per-cent among teens in America. Among youth ages 12-17, prescription drug abuse has increased a startling 17 per-cent, jumping from 2.3 percent of youth in 2008 to 2.7 percent in 2009. In 2009, the Monitoring the Future Survey showed that five percent of teens have admitted to abusing an over-the-counter cough medicine to get high at some point over the past year. – CADCA 2012

Maci Herrington, Special Projects Coordinator, The Coalition, Lufkin

Shameful behaviorCan you believe our Vice President

Joe Biden acting like a kid with his an-tics of heckling, and grinning like a Cheshire cat looking at a mouse?

Gov. Mitt Romney went to see Rev. Rev. Billy Graham, Fox News Ch. 32 MS-NBC, and his son Franklin Graham said they would help him (Romney) any way they could. Rev. Billy Graham, and son Franklin Graham, is a believer and lover of Jesus, who is Christ. Obama does not.

Louise Greene, Lufkin


■ The Line King Dancers of Lufkin participate in the Line Up and Dance Classic in Mineola, Texas■ North Lufkin Leadership Council marks to improve neighborhood, affordable housing and job creation.

Ten years ago■ Low income women in Texas will be able to receive free treatment for breast and cervical cancers, Texas Gov. Rick Perry announces in Lufkin during his visit.■ Architect Mark Strong tells Lufkin ISD board

members new school barn will cost more than $1.5 million.

Twenty years ago■ Lufkin Industries purchase American Inter-national Manufacturing Company in Fort Worth which is expected to bring more jobs to Lufkin.■ Lufkin ISD trustees votes to commit $130,000 as part of an agreement between the district and the city in hopes of receiving a grant from the state to construct a walk-way overpass joining the Dunbar campuses.



Today is Wednesday, Oct. 17, the 291st day of 2012. There are 75 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Oct. 17, 1777, British forces under

Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered to American troops in Saratoga, N.Y., in a turning point of the Revolutionary War.

On this date:In 1610, French King Louis XIII, age

nine, was crowned at Reims, five months after the assassination of his father, Henry IV.

In 1711, Jupiter Hammon, the first black poet to have his work published in America, was born on Long Island, N.Y., into a lifetime of slavery.

In 1807, Britain declared it would con-tinue to reclaim British-born sailors from American ships and ports regard-less of whether they held U.S. citizen-ship.

In 1912, Pope John Paul I was born Albino Luciani at Forno di Canale, Italy.

In 1931, mobster Al Capone was con-victed of income tax evasion. (Sentenced to 11 years in prison, Capone was re-leased in 1939.)

In 1933, Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.

In 1941, the U.S. destroyer Kearny was damaged by a German torpedo off the coast of Iceland; 11 people died.

In 1961, French police attacked Alge-rians protesting a curfew in Paris. (The resulting death toll varies widely, with some estimates of up to 200.)

In 1973, Arab oil-producing nations announced they would begin cutting back oil exports to Western nations and Japan; the result was a total embargo that lasted until March 1974.


4aopinionLuFkindAiLYnews.COmwednesdAY, OCTOber 17, 2012 THE LUFKIN NEWS



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The release yesterday of the “perversion files” kept by the Boy Scouts of America over the past

several decades brought about some disturbing revelations. Clearly, based on the information contained in the files, the organi-zation has had some systematic failures in its reporting — or the justice system’s prosecution — of a significant number of likely pedophiles.

It’s so sad, especially because it’s not the first time we’ve heard this story. Whether it’s been in the Catholic church, Penn State University or other organiza-tions that seek, as a whole, to do good things for our youth, it’s clear that perverted people use positions of power to get close to potential victims. What’s most disheartening is that so many of these people, even when caught in the act, are allowed to continue being predators, usually because of the bad press their arrests would bring to the organization.

Scouting is a wholesome and worthwhile activity for our boys, we believe. It teaches so many attributes and skills that are largely lacking in society today, and most all Scout leaders — in our experience, at least — are sin-cere in their efforts to guide, and even build legitimate bonds with, the young men in their troops. Camping trips are a great way for our kids to learn about the great outdoors and develop friendships among one another.

Yet, the information being released from the “perversion files” shows that bad things can arise even in activities arranged by entities with pure motives. One incident that caught the eye of Associated Press reporters who reviewed the files ahead of their release Thursday was the apparent 1965 admission by a scoutmaster who told a chief

criminal deputy in a northeast Louisiana parish that he had raped one boy and molested the boy’s two brothers. That man, apparently, was never charged, “to save the name of Scouting,” a Louisiana Scouts executive wrote to the organization’s national personnel division, according to an Associated Press story about its review of the files.

Again, we believe Scouting is valuable to almost all of the young men who participate, and we do not believe the “perversion files” indicate widespread sexual abuse among the nation’s indi-vidual troops. But we are disap-pointed, just as we were with the Catholic church and the Penn State higher-ups, with the appar-ent failure to properly report (and seek prosecution of) those so-called leaders who were suspect-ed, based on credible evidence, of having molested young boys.

If there’s a lesson to be learned in all of this, we think, it’s that parents need to 1) teach their kids about what’s appropriate touch-ing and what is not, and to not be afraid to tell on adults who do bad things to themselves or other children, and 2) keep an eye out for signs of sexual deviance by youth leaders, no matter how up-standing the person or organiza-tion may seem to be. It is terrible to have to be that cynical, but too often these predators turn out to be people we’ve loved and trusted for years.

The “perversion files” contain some disheartening information about an organization that means so much to this country, but the Boy Scouts of America in recent years has worked to do a better job of ousting, and reporting, pedophiles within its ranks. We continue to support Scouting, but we urge its officials and parents alike to be vigilant in its pursuit of purity for our kids.

Pursuit of PurityIn light of ‘perversion files,’ Scouting officials

and parents need to be on watch for pedophilia

October has been a month of extremesOctober has been a strange month,

a mixture of sadness and happi-ness almost from one extreme to

the other. Putting my dog

down was to date the hardest thing I’ve had to do, even though I know it won’t be the hard-est thing I’ll ever have to do. I do ap-preciate the sympa-thy emails, phone calls and hugs that came my way. I miss her every day, and I wonder how long it will take before I stop thinking that I need to let her out or think I hear her dog tags jingling as I open the door to the house. I found out two friends of mine lost their older dogs that same week under different circum-stances. I hate that we all have such a sad thing in common.

On the happy side, my younger daughter was able to come home from the University of Arizona for a visit this past weekend. Because the flights home for Thanksgiving were crazy — she

would have come in at 1 a.m. on Thanks-giving — this was a better alternative. It was great having her in the house again, despite the messy bathroom she left behind. She was able to go to a foot-ball game, hang out with some friends, eat her favorite homemade foods and work on a school project. In other words, it was just like the old days! She loves UA, where she is involved with student government and has made some good friends. She’ll be spending Thanksgiv-ing with her roommate in the moun-tains of Arizona — a pretty place to give thanks, I think.

Speaking of college, my son’s perfor-mance on the PSAT has led to some of the same scholarship offers my daugh-ter received. Last week, he received a generous offer from Arizona State Uni-versity, bitter rivals to the University of Arizona.

Of course, my daughter was offended that he was even a little excited at the thought of becoming a Sun Devil. What he is really hoping for, though, is the same scholarship she received to UA. He loves the campus and he loves her, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed

he might hear from them. Funny how a year ago I would have never thought I would have one child going to college out of state, and now it turns out I may have two.

Because my daughter was home for such a short visit, I chose not to go to the Cattle Baron’s Gala this year, the first I’ve missed. However, I was able to volunteer for a couple of hours, and was stationed right by the entrance, which gave me the chance to see people as they arrived. I loved seeing everyone dressed in their boots and so excited about the great evening ahead.

The volunteers who worked to put the gala together really outdid themselves again. The Moore farm looked beauti-ful, and I know it was a bittersweet eve-ning for Kelley and David Moore, with the passing of David’s father, Raymond Moore, just a few days earlier. Through Raymond’s generous contribution of his farm as the venue for the gala, there is no doubt his legacy will live on — and for a cause that was so close to his heart.

Denise Hoepfner is features editor of The Lufkin News. Her email address is

[email protected].

Changing the trick-or-treat funding systemIn the recently released 2012 PDK/

Gallup Poll, Americans offered our educational system a much-needed

boost of support and encourage-ment. The survey results indicate that Americans feel good about their local schools and their local teach-ers. Americans have confidence in local schools and see their finest edu-cators as caring, attentive and serious professionals. However, the 2012 PDK/Gallup Poll also indicates that the No. 1 concern of Americans was the lack of educational funding.

The great news is that our kids are learning more than ever before from teachers who are better trained than ever before. Texas Commissioner of Ed-ucation Michael L. Williams announced last week that participation and scores in Advanced Placement (AP) tests by Texas public school students has in-creased and showed significant improve-ment. According to Williams, “More Texas students are choosing to take the

academically rigorous AP classes, and increasingly, they are meeting the chal-lenge. Students who are succeeding in AP classes and on AP exams in our high schools are positioning themselves for future success in college.”

The Texas Constitution provides for “a general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.” This “system of public free schools” con-tinues to haunt lawmakers on the verge of the largest school finance lawsuit in history, as well as a new frightening leg-islative session to follow.

The lawsuit over the state’s method of financing schools is scheduled for trial beginning Oct. 22. Many of us wonder if political leaders will continue to play trick-or-treat or solve the school finance problem.

More than half of the school districts in Texas are suing the state concerning disparities in the school funding formu-la. The issues include inequities, which result in school districts receiving vary-ing amounts of funding ranging from

$3,926 per weighted student for districts getting the “trick” and up to $13,121 for those districts enjoying the “treats,” as well as the inadequacies due to more state-mandated testing.

Also, with the dawn of this 83rd ses-sion approaching, we are closely watch-ing to see if legislators will stand up and do what’s right, or if they will continue with so-called reforms that funnel mil-lions of taxpayer dollars to private, for-profit companies that create the state’s standardized tests? Also, will we see more funding given to lower-performing charter, private, and virtual school en-deavors?

The challenge for providing an eq-uitable education for all students in Texas, regardless of their zip code, is enormous. Nevertheless, we are hopeful because of quality leadership like Todd Staples, Kevin Eltife, Diane Patrick, Trent Ashby and Thomas Ratliff, just to name a few. Because these strong lead-ers will do what’s right for Texas, we will not have to face a spooky future.

Resources: 2012 PDK/Gallup Poll, Tex-as Education Agency, Raise Your Hand Texas, and Equity Center

Allen Garner is the superintendent of Central ISD. His email address is [email protected].

TOdAY in hisTOrY

Choosing to be drug-freeBeing above the influence is a state of

mind. It’s waking up every morning and making the conscious decision to lead a drug- and alcohol-free life — a life that sets an example in school and through-out the community.

Living above the influence isn’t easy. The pressures of the world are always there, and as you get older, they only seem to push harder. However, peer pressure gives you the opportunity to define yourself away from harmful sub-stances. It gives you the chance to stand up for what you believe is right and hold yourself to a higher standard.

Though it may be difficult in the mo-ment, one simple “No” can set you on a path that will not only earn you the re-spect of teachers and parents, but also the respect of your friends. When you stand out from the crowd for a positive reason, people take notice. The atten-tion of your peer group and community gives you the opportunity to be a role model — to influence someone’s life in a positive way.

It’s a lot to think about. I get it. Be-ing a teenager is enough of a struggle on its own before you add the weight of academic and social pressures. Don’t be stressed — we’re all trying to figure it out as we go. We all make mistakes, but you can start over today. Stop letting others define you. It’s your life and you

call the shots. Use what you’ve learned from experience to reinvent yourself, to shape a better life and a brighter future. Choose to live “Above the Influence.” I do.

Anna Catherine Alvis, Lufkin Drug Free All-Star, The Coalition

Fed up with administrationI am fed up with the Obama admin-

istration’s fabrication of what they call the “truth.” Fact: Four United States citizens were murdered by terrorists. Fact: Obama denied the event and went to Las Vegas for a fundraiser. Fact: The Obama administration failed to provide adequate security. Fact: The Obama administration’s “transparency” is a “black hole.”

In my opinion, Obama is an insult to the Office of President of the Unit-ed States of America. Nixon was im-peached for far less. Obama has misled the American public about Obamacare. There are more hidden costs in this plan than the U.S. Tax Code.

Wake up America! Open your eyes and see the light. Put us on the path to a better future for the American citizens.

One final thought. I believe the Obama administration knew about the film be-fore the attack and used it to cover their incompetency.

I’m fed up.Joe Wolf, Lufkin


■ Oil vat fire breaks out at Lufkin Industries heat treat facility.■ With the onset of the baby boomer generation retiring, the Lufkin/Angelina County Chamber of Commerce commits efforts to promote Lufkin area retirement destination.

Ten years ago■ Tony Sanchez’s opponent in the Democratic pri-mary, former Attorney General Dan Morales stops

in Lufkin and stumps for Gov. Rick Perry.■ Pack trims Longview Lobos, 23-12 in battle of ranked teams.

Twenty years ago■ Beard’s Catalog Showroom goes out of business and closes its doors after more than a decade in Lufkin and Nacogdoches.■ Artist Latane Temple celebrates opening of his first Museum of East Texas art exhibit.



Today is Friday, Oct. 19, the 293rd day of 2012. There are 73 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Oct. 19, 1987, the stock market

crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Av-erage plunged 508 points, or 22.6 percent in value, to close at 1,738.74.

On this date:In 1765, the Stamp Act Congress,

meeting in New York, drew up a declara-tion of rights and liberties.

In 1781, British troops under Gen. Lord Cornwallis surrendered at York-town, Va., as the American Revolution neared its end.

In 1812, French forces under Napo-leon Bonaparte began their retreat from Moscow.

In 1864, Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early attacked Union forces at Cedar Creek, Va.; the Union troops were able to rally and defeat the Confederates.

In 1936, H.R. Ekins of the New York World-Telegram beat out Dorothy Kil-

gallen of the New York Journal and Leo Kieran of The New York Times in a round-the-world race on commercial flights that lasted 18½ days.

In 1951, President Harry S. Truman signed an act formally ending the state of war with Germany.

In 1960, the United States began a lim-ited embargo against Cuba covering all commodities except medical supplies and certain food products.

In 1967, the U.S. space probe Mariner 5 flew past Venus.


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Several months ago, when Texan and American cyclist Lance Armstrong announced he would

no longer fight allegations of the illegal use of performance enhanc-ing drugs during his unprecedented wining streak of seven consecutive Tour de France victories, most of us thought that was an admission of guilt. Armstrong gave up his appeals, apparently in hopes the real story would not come out.

Unfortunately it did. About two weeks ago the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency accused Armstrong and his teammates of running perhaps the most sophisticated cheating program ever in professional sports.

“The U.S.P.S. Team doping con-spiracy was professionally designed to groom and pressure athletes to use dangerous drugs, to evade detection, to ensure its secrecy and ultimately gain an unfair competitive advantage through superior doping practices,” the agency said. The agency said it was “a program organized by indi-viduals who thought they were above the rules and who still play a major and active role in sport today.”

Yesterday, the International Cy-cling Union, cycling’s governing body, stripped Armstrong of his titles and banned him from the sport for life. It was a sad ending to a story that at one time had provided inspiration to millions of people and was a source

of national pride. The Texan helped the sport of cycling grow.

Armstrong’s fall from grace was sudden but not totally unexpected. International cycling is rife with instances of illegal doping, includ-ing using banned performance enhancing substances, steroids and even blood transfusions. We should not have been surprised that Armstrong, a survivor of testicular cancer, could climb to the top of cycling and remain there for seven years apparently without cheating. Drugs helped save his life, but in the end, drugs helped tarnish it.

Last week, longtime sponsors Nike, Anheuser-Busch, Trek Bicycles and others dropped him following his resignation as the chairman of Livestrong, a cancer awareness organization he founded 15 year ago. No one wants to be associated with a cheater, especially one who has worn the mantle of a righteous victim of an overzealous regulatory body.

That is the saddest chapter of the Armstrong saga and one that Arm-strong should be most ashamed of. We are. People will forever remember Armstrong as the guy who thought he would not get caught but did. The founding of Livestrong may be the only positive Armstrong legacy. If it the organization is affected by these revelations, Armstrong has only himself to blame.

What A Dope!Lance Armstrong’s fall from grace takes him

from source of pride to source of shame

Lufkin Fire personnel wear many hatsThank you for the opportunity

to discuss events pertaining to the city of Lufkin Fire Depart-

ment. Lufkin Fire was established in 1888 and has evolved over the years into an all-hazard emergency response depart-ment. Currently employing 79 fully paid professional firefighters and two civilian per-sonnel, we provide Advanced Life Support ambu-lance service to Angelina County and the city of Lufkin. Our highly trained paramedic/firefighter-staffed ambu-lances are equipped with the latest technology that provides medical care

at an exceptionally high level. One ex-ample of that are 12 lead cardiac moni-tors featuring blue tooth capabilities where we are able to identify a STEMI (ST elevated myocardial infarction) and expedite treatment and interven-tion. We are responsible for a variety of fire related activities which include suppression, prevention, pre-fire planning, code enforcement and ar-son investigation. We assist Angelina County and Nacogdoches Fire Depart-ment through mutual aid agreements. Our Special Operations team responds regionally to Hazardous Material Incidents at a Technician level, con-fined space, high-angle, water rescue, vehicle extrication and various other emergencies when requested. We are a very active department with a large call volume. In 2011 we responded to over 8000 emergency medical calls, and

over 2000 fire related incidents. New to our department is our Honor Guard. This group is available upon request to honor fallen firefighters and police officers, present and post the colors at events, and have provided a great ser-vice on several occasions since incep-tion. We will soon be opening a new facility, fire Station 3. This station will house the majority of our Station 1 personnel as well as our 85-foot ladder apparatus, an engine, light rescue and an ambulance. The opening of this sta-tion will allow us to lower the ISO (In-surance Services Office) rating of the City, which in turn should help lower commercial and residential insurance rates. We encourage everyone to join us for the grand opening ceremony in the near future.

Ted Lovett is the Chief of the Lufkin Fire Department. His email address is [email protected].

Mitt Romney’s missed opportunitiesHere’s the good news for Mitt Rom-

ney: In the first two debates, he established himself as President

Barack Obama’s equal on the events of the day. The gover-nor is well versed on the issues and has shown a mas-tery of both for-eign and domestic policy.

Here’s the bad news: He has failed to pin down the president on his ob-vious policy short-comings.

As someone who makes a nice liv-ing debating on television, I watch the president and the governor go after each other with a professional eye. And I can’t understand why Romney doesn’t close the deal. Three examples:

First, when Obama says his energy programs are helping the nation, all Romney has to do is keep it simple and

ask: “Why then have gas prices more than doubled on your watch, Mr. Presi-dent? That doesn’t sound like good pol-icy to me.”

Second, the president continues to say he has created millions of jobs. But all Romney has to do is retort: “So what? The average income for working-class households in America is down almost $5,000, Mr. President. Workers are get-ting hosed, and your policies are at fault.”

Finally, number three, the Libya deal. This is crazy. There are just two vital questions, and Romney has not asked either one: Who pulled two American security teams out of Libya in August despite the concerns of slain Ambassa-dor Christopher Stevens? Who ordered U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and White House spokesperson Jay Carney to mis-lead the world about what happened?

If the president doesn’t know, he looks incompetent. If he does know and won’t say, he looks corrupt. If he does answer the questions, Romney wins just by ask-

ing.The problem with many politicians

when they debate is that they cram so much information into their heads in anticipation of spitting it out there that they don’t actually listen to what their opponent is saying. In any debate, sim-ple is best. State the facts clearly, and ask obvious questions about your oppo-nent’s weaknesses.

Romney has a big advantage over Obama in the debates because Obama has to defend a record that contains some massive screw-ups. Nobody really cares about Romney’s record in Mas-sachusetts, and he could easily pettifog any specific questioning of it.

But with the economy sluggish after almost four years, four dead Americans in Libya, and Iran still chugging along on the nuclear weapons highway, the president has a good deal of Ricky Ri-cardo ’splainin’ to do. But the governor has not put him on the spot in a precise enough way.

Bill O’Reilly writes for Creators Syndicate.

TOdAY in hisTOrY






OCTOBER 23One YeAr AGO

■ Lufkin High School Marching Band receives a Division 1 rating, the highest possible, for its military-style performance at the Texas UIL Region 21 Marching Band Competition.■ Lufkin manhandles Oak Ridge as the Pack coasts to a 63-0 win during District 14-5A football action at Woodforest Bank Stadium.

Ten YeArs AGO■ Angelina County lawmen plan warrant sweep for the coming weeks — officers will be working to clear up traffic tickets, Class C misdemeanors.

■ Lufkin chapter of the NAACP hosts its fourth annual Barbeque Cook-Off at Jones Park with proceeds benefitting its scholarship fund.

TWenTY YeArs AGO■ LCTX workers to consider new pact — or will go on strike; paying more for health care insurance is the main issue.■ Precision Lumber Company, a Pollok sawmill still under construction, is purchased by Hampton Resources, an Oregon company seeking to start pine operations in the South.


The Associated PressToday is Tuesday, Oct. 23, the 297th

day of 2012. There are 69 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Oct. 23, 1942, during World War

II, Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein in Egypt, resulting in an Allied victory.

On this date:In 1862, King Otto of Greece was de-

posed in a revolt.In 1915, tens of thousands of women

marched in New York City, demanding the right to vote.

In 1932, comedian Fred Allen began his first regular radio show for CBS, “The Linit Bath Club Revue.”

In 1935, mobster Dutch Schultz, 34, was shot and mortally wounded with three other men during a gangland hit at the Palace Chophouse in Newark, N.J. (Schultz died the following day.)

In 1954, West Germany was invited to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza-tion, which it did the following year.

In 1956, a student-sparked revolt against Hungary’s Communist rule began; as the revolution spread, Soviet forces started entering the country, and the uprising was put down within weeks.

In 1972, the musical “Pippin” opened on Broadway.

In 1980, the resignation of Soviet Pre-mier Alexei N. Kosygin (koh-SEE’-gihn) was announced.

In 1983, 241 U.S. service members, most of them Marines, were killed in a suicide truck-bombing at Beirut Inter-national Airport in Lebanon; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers.

In 1987, the U.S. Senate rejected, 58-42, the Supreme Court nomination of Rob-ert H. Bork.

In 1992, Japanese Emperor Akihito began a visit to China, the first by a Jap-anese monarch.

In 1995, a jury in Houston convicted Yolanda Saldivar of murdering Tejano singing star Selena. (Saldivar is serv-ing a life prison sentence.)

Ten years ago: Gunmen seized a crowded Moscow theater, taking hun-

dreds hostage and threatening to kill their captives unless the Russian army pulled out of Chechnya. President George W. Bush signed the biggest military spending increase since Ron-ald Reagan’s administration — a $355.5 billion package. Broadway librettist Adolph Green died in New York at age 87. The San Francisco Giants edged the Anaheim Angels, 4-3, to tie the World Series at two games each.

Five years ago: Evacuations due to out-of-control wildfires in Southern California topped 500,000; President George W. Bush declared a federal emergency for seven counties. Shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven thun-dered into orbit for a complex space station construction mission.

One year ago: Libya’s interim rulers declared the country liberated, formal-ly marking the end of Moammar Gad-hafi’s 42-year tyranny. A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes eastern Turkey, killing some 600 people. Tim Tebow ral-lied the Broncos for two touchdowns in the final 2:44 of the fourth quarter to force overtime, and Matt Prater’s 52-yard field goal gave Denver an improb-able 18-15 victory over the stunned Miami Dolphins. The Texas Rangers evened the World Series at two games apiece, shutting out the St. Louis Car-dinals 4-0.


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Elections should provide voters with choices and fresh ideas. In reality, they provide too many

incumbents with job protection.A Dallas Morning News analy-

sis published last week concluded that in nearly two-thirds of the Texas House’s 150 districts, one of the two major parties isn’t even fielding a candidate. More than two-thirds of the remaining contests are solidly trending for one party or the other. Only about 13 seats are considered “in play,” meaning that a challenger has at least a modest chance of upending an incumbent.

Blame for this lousy state of affairs can be placed on elected officials, who have way too much leeway in determining their political future. Every 10 years, they make the rules and draw the maps that predictably result in oddly shaped districts created to minimize the chance of strong op-ponents. It’s no coincidence that district maps almost always ac-commodate incumbent residences and are heavily weighted to favor the current officeholder.

We encounter these unsettling trends every election cycle, when editorial board members inter-view the candidates. This year, for instance, we met with contenders in 35 local and state races.

While the challengers have included worthy office-seekers, we have encountered far too many unqualified, uninformed candidates some of whom don’t take their commitment seriously enough to campaign or even learn

about key issues. As a result, incumbents can become compla-cent caretakers who know they have no chance of losing. This lack of a serious challenge results in a horrible choice between a mediocre incumbent and a worse alternative.

Politics always will play a role in redistricting, but curbing its outsized influence on races will produce more capable candidates and more accountable elected officials. This newspaper believes that Texas should establish an in-dependent commission to redraw district lines, a step 13 other states have already taken.

No, change won’t be easy, and it won’t happen at all without strong bipartisan leadership. As recently as last legislative session, a bill to establish a nine-member biparti-san citizens redistricting panel in Texas quietly died when Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst blocked it from the floor.

We urge North Texas lawmak-ers John Carona, a Republican, and Royce West, a Democrat, and others to unite around the goal of making redistricting a less politi-cal process. Both men supported state Sen. Jeff Wentworth’s failed measure last session, and West told this newspaper earlier this month that he would like to pursue redistricting reform when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

West’s interest strikes us as a superb starting place. After all, al-most any system would be better than the one the state uses now.

The Dallas Morning News

Politics as UsualLet’s drop incumbents’ protected status

Tailoring my dreams for a comfy fitIt never fails that the first hint of cool

weather also brings with it a feel-ing of introspection for me. There’s

nothing I love bet-ter than curling up with a hot cup of tea in a quiet house and letting my mind take me where it wants to go. Usually, where it wants to go is to that place where my dreams lie dor-mant, ready to be awakened like autumn perennials.

Last Tuesday night as the rain came down and the wind was biting, I was cozily ensconced in my favorite reading chair sipping vanilla chamomile tea. I had been reading, “Wild: From Lost to Found,” by Cheryl Strayed, which tells the journey of the author as she hiked the 1,100-mile Pacific Coast Trail from California to Washington.

Strayed was inspired to make the journey at 26, after living through some devastating events and equally devastat-ing life choices: the death of her mother, a divorce, drug addiction and promiscu-ity, to name a few. I became aware of the book after watching an Oprah interview with Strayed, who said the book with all

its adventure and metaphor is ultimate-ly about accepting life — and yourself — in all its broken glory.

I am oh so slowly savoring this book and it is torture to do so. I want to rip through its pages, inhale it and live its message. Strayed’s voice and willing-ness to share her truth are breathtak-ingly and heartbreakingly honest. It is an amazing memoir.

Reading such a book at a time when my soul is right there on the precipice of hungering for that “something more” is a frightening thing. So frightening, that I had to set the book aside that Tuesday night, to think about what I was reading and how it was affecting me.

I realized that as I have become older, letting go of dreams of adventure has gotten easier. So easy that I don’t even notice when it’s happened. I wondered if one day I’ll forget such dreams ever even existed.

That’s how I found myself last Tues-day, sitting in my cozy chair in my cozy house wearing my cozy pajama pants and my cozy fuzzy shoes lamenting lost dreams.

In a moment of complete honesty with myself, I admitted I would never consider something as crazy as hiking more than a thousand miles for no other reason than on a whim. I’m too careful,

too planned, too responsible, too afraid. These are the same reasons that have kept me tethered to my day-to-day life and not living the wandering life of a gypsy like I always said I dreamed of do-ing, when in reality I like the comforts of home.

The question is if not that, then what?The secret, I guess, is to tailor my

dreams to fit my authentic self, and not fall into the one-size-fits-all mentality that is so easy to do when you hear of the adventures of others. Instead, I need to take the pieces of my discarded dreams that appeal to me and fashion them into something that fits better.

I realized too, while listening to the beautiful duet of the rain and my wind chimes, that there have already been many adventures in my life story and, God willing, there are more on the ho-rizon.

Just because mine didn’t include sur-prise rattlesnake or face-to-face bear encounters — and I hope they never do —doesn’t make them any less exciting.

And ultimately, they have led me to the same place as Strayed’s well-traveled hiking boots — down the long-winding path to a place of acceptance.


[email protected].

Inheriting dreams, sharing memoriesOften I sit and think about what

life was like in the early years in Lufkin, Texas.

The part I think about most was called “Old Lufkin.” It was from Lake Street, known to-day as MLK, to where Culverhouse is. Here you found a self-sustaining community. There were churches, schools, doctor’s clinic, taxi stands, funeral home, den-tist’s office, beauty shops, barber shops, shoe shine parlors and beautiful homes. Everyone knew each other and gave to this community.

People that lived here were teachers, preachers, doctors, brakemen, foundry

workers, barbers and others. All worked hard to be the best they could be. They took care of their families. They were well-respected citizens.

Some of these homes are still stand-ing and bring back sweet memories. A change is taking place — the school has a new look and we are proud to call it by its new name — North Lufkin.

The school was the heart of the com-munity — entertainment, dramas, plays, meetings, musicals and programs. The church was a part of the school. “Old Lufkin” was a close community. Teach-ers were active in the church and school. Clubs, Masons, Ladies Birthday Club, Social Friendship Club, Community Aid, Beauticians. Scottish Rite, Hero-ines of Jericho, American Woodmen, all made this a better place to live.

These dedicated groups had an inter-est in their young people, in their wel-

fare, and in teaching them. I get letters and calls from these, who were your children in Lufkin then and who are teachers, principals, pro football players and preachers today — they, too, recall the early years. Some are in their 80s and 90s, and the memories are with them to-day.

We inherit the dreams of our people and share them with others. A rich memory is ours and they are good for a nation — it made us better people to live in the city of Lufkin.

I recall all the wonderful things and persons that were in my life and I have shared their dreams with others.

The Rev. Bettie Kennedy is the winner the Angelina Award bestowed during the Lufkin/Angelina County

Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet in January of this year in honor of her lifetime of community service

to Angelina County.

TOdAY in hisTOrY

Hurting the poorSo... What’s the most effective way to

hurt the poor? That’s right, how can a president crush poor people economi-cally and still pretend he cares? Simple, declare war on fossil fuels.

Gas prices average $3.74 nationwide and over $5 a gallon in California. It’s a punishing new normal. “Cats back” gas prices are a petty annoyance to the wealthy, but a kick in the gut to the poor, and that’s just the beginning of the pain. Four-dollar diesel fuel dictates higher trucking expenses, and therefore higher costs of virtually everything in the su-permarket.

The brutal truth is that food and en-ergy costs consume 50 percent of the salary of the poor in our country. This devastating reality means that every in-crease in fuel costs is felt like a hammer blow to the less fortunate. The rural poor are especially hard hit since they aver-age greater driving distances every day.

But hey, why bother with real life problems of poor people when your goal is even more expensive “green” energy? Despite one miserable failure after an-other on the “green” energy front, our President will not relinquish his death grip on oil and gas. No Keystone pipeline, no offshore drilling, no more coal power plants, slow walking all lease applica-tions on federal land, an out of control EPA, you name it, everything is designed to harm our oil, gas and coal industries and, by default, increase fuel and energy prices.

Mr. Obama, if you really care about the poor as you claim, take your foot off their throats! Quit talking about how much you care and do something that will actually help; lower gas prices. It’s not that difficult. Just, get out of the way and let the free market work. Abundant,

inexpensive energy has always helped to lift people out of poverty.

If you just can’t force yourself to that point, then lose the election and let some-one else take over. The poor you claim to help can’t wait.

David Palmer DDS, Huntington

Student loansI am writing this letter after having

read Ben Pyle’s article printed in the LDN on Oct. 22, titled “Throwing away money on student loans.”

In his article, he compares student loan repayments in one technical school in Washington, D.C. Loan repayment in this school is allegedly one in 20. He then used this technical school’s repayment rate as an example of how repayments are made at schools of higher education nationwide.

I hold a bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston and a master’s de-gree from USC. While going through un-dergraduate school, I used scholarships, grants, and loans. I also worked as a legal secretary. I was very grateful for the help of the government. After graduating from school and finding a job, I immedi-ately began paying off my school loan.

Responsibility must sometimes be taught. It would be very beneficial to student education. How the IRS obtains their money is a good example of how to get our money back. The IRS fines people, garnishes their wages, and puts people in jail. I do not know if the IRS puts liens on assets; however, this would also be a good idea.

Mr. Pyle also added his thoughts on money. He stated that once citizens pay taxes to the government, it is no longer our money. I disagree with his reason-ing. This nation is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

D.J. Farmer, Lufkin

OCTOBER 26

One year ago■ Zavalla’s Dustin Ellermann wins Season 3 of The History Channel’s ‘Top Shot’ competition.■ Angelina County residents look at maps, view video presentations and talks to officials as the I-69 Segment Two Committee hosts open house at Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin.

Ten years ago■ Lufkin Panthers drop nailbiter, fall to Tyler Lee 21-20 in overtime.■ Pulse holding steady in downtown Lufkin — 10

percent of buildings are vacant — city officials, business owners tout economic development.

Twenty years ago■ Congressman Charles Wilson and challenger Donna Peterson, both candidates for the Second Congressional District seat, fail to disclose data on large donors.■ Texas Forest Association is the recipient of the 1992 Commissioners Award for Volunteer Services given by the Texas Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation.



Today is Friday, Oct. 26, the 300th day of 2012. There are 66 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Oct. 26, 1942, Japanese planes

badly damaged the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Is-lands during World War II. (The Hornet sank early the next morning; the battle itself ended in a tactical victory for Ja-pan, but ultimately a strategic win for the Allies.)

On this date:In 1774, the First Continental Con-

gress adjourned in Philadelphia.In 1825, the Erie Canal opened in up-

state New York, connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River.

In 1861, the legendary Pony Express officially ceased operations, giving way to the transcontinental telegraph. (The last run of the Pony Express was com-pleted the following month.)

In 1881, the “Gunfight at the O.K. Cor-ral” took place in Tombstone, Ariz.

In 1902, women’s rights pioneer Eliza-beth Cady Stanton died in New York at age 86.

In 1921, the Chicago Theatre, billed as

“the Wonder Theatre of the World,” first opened.

In 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed a measure raising the minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents an hour.

In 1958, Pan American Airways flew its first Boeing 707 jetliner from New York to Paris in 8 hours and 41 minutes.

In 1962, the thriller “What Ever Hap-pened to Baby Jane?,” starring Bette Da-vis and Joan Crawford, had its premiere in New York.

In 1972, national security adviser Hen-ry Kissinger declared, “Peace is at hand” in Vietnam.


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In 601 A.D, Pope Gregory issued an edict instructing the church to attempt to as-similate the customs of locals

into church doctrine as a way of attracting them into the church. Church holidays were set to coin-cide with native holy days.

The Celtic people had long observed Samhain, one of their most important holidays on Nov. 1. They thought it was the time the spirits of the dead were most active, traveling to the otherworld. Those people wore costumes representing the dead, carved vegetables and bobbed for apples. They practiced mumming, per-forming tricks or skits in return for food and drink.

The Roman Catholic Church assigned Nov. 1 as All Saint’s or All Hallow’s Day in an attempt to merge the old beliefs with new. All Hallow’s Eve was observed by setting out food and drink for wandering spirits. All Hallow’s Eve became Halloween.

Tomorrow we celebrate Hal-loween and many of the traditions established by the Celts survive today. Sadly, the holiday is not as safe as it once was but by observ-ing a few precautions, trick-or-treating can still be safe.

The U.S. Food and Drug Admin-istration offers these reminders to help your children have a safe Halloween.

■ Children shouldn’t snack while they’re out trick-or-treating. Urge your children to wait until they get home and you have had a chance to inspect the contents of their “goody bags.”

■ To help prevent children from snacking, give them a light meal or snack before they head out — don’t send them out on an empty stomach.

■ Tell children not to accept — and especially not to eat — anything that isn’t commercially wrapped.

■ Parents of very young chil-dren should remove any choking hazards such as gum, peanuts, hard candies or small toys.

■ Inspect commercially wrapped treats for signs of tampering, such as an unusual appearance or discoloration, tiny pinholes, or tears in wrappers. Throw away anything that looks suspicious.

Additionally, please make sure your trick-or-treater is super-vised. Make sure the costumes have some sort of reflective clothing or emblem to increase visibility and are flame retardant. Provide them with a flashlight, and make sure they cross the street only at intersections. Have them avoid strangers and make sure they avoid homes that are not lit.

Enjoy a safe All Hallow’s Eve.

All Hallow’s EveObserving a few simple precautions helps keep trick-or-treating safe, fun

Health care reform — friend or foe?When most people refer to health

care reform, they are likely referring

to the new Afford-able Care Act, and they’d be correct to do so; but, the truth is the health care industry has been reforming for years.

Over the past 50 years, both federal and state govern-ments have become the largest purchas-ers of health care through the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Over the past 30 years, governments’ efforts to control the costs of those pro-grams by limiting or reducing what they pay to providers has resulted in what many describe as “underfunding,” or not covering the real costs, causing pro-viders to have to cost shift the burden to the private sector. That cost shifting impacts both businesses and individuals who provide or purchase private health insurance, and has contributed signifi-cantly to the rising costs and unafford-ability of health insurance.

Business leaders have recognized for some time what I refer to as “the value quotient” being out of balance for their employer purchased health care, mean-ing the value they get compared to what they have to pay for it is out of balance. As a result, they have been working with providers for years to reduce costs and improve outcomes through what we re-fer to as “managed care,” a form of pri-

vate sector health care reform. Over the past 10 years, as consump-

tion of health care and the costs associ-ated with it have grown rapidly, govern-ment leaders, providers and consumers also have come to recognize that the ever increasing cost of health care is unsus-tainable, to business, to the government, and to the family; hence the push to mandate additional reform through gov-ernmental legislation and regulation as an attempt to bend the cost curve.

The bottom line is that this country just can’t continue to afford health care as we want to have it, and something was going to have to be done about it. The way I see it, reform was going to hap-pen with or without the Affordable Care Act. It was likely going to continue to be driven by the private sector, and likely by both the employers and the provid-ers in cooperation with each other, and with some governmental and consumer involvement.

It may have been more or less orderly, and more or less effective, but it was go-ing to happen. I can even declare that it was already happening, based on the thousands of experiments around the country where folks are trying to find better and less expensive ways to deliver health care.

As I have told many audiences recent-ly, with or without the Affordable Care Act there are two imperatives for us who provide health care: keep finding ways to improve our clinical outcomes, and keep finding ways to improve our op-erating efficiencies. No matter how the government or the private sector moves

to alter the financing and consumption of health care, those two imperatives will have to be part of the solution to helping this country afford what health care it needs, much less what it wants. The Affordable Care Act seems to put those two imperatives on steroids.

There are pros and cons about the fed-eral government driving health care re-form. By most accounts, they have done a good job making improvements in Medicare outcomes, using what they’ve learned from the provision of care to the large Medicare population over the years. We have all learned and benefit-ted from that.

On the other hand, those of us in-volved in providing that care know that the decisions of government can be both partisan and arbitrary, such as under-funding mandates. So answering the question as to whether the Affordable Care Act is a friend or a foe will be like trying to determine the beauty of some-thing: it will be in the eyes of the be-holder. Some will benefit from increased coverage, while others will be expected to do more with less, and many will have to figure out how to maneuver through the system.

I do know that, while we diligently prepare for it, most health care provid-ers I talk to are suspect about the results. In the future I will address more about the aspects of health care reform, how the industry is preparing for it, and what impact it will have on our communities.

Gary Looper is CEO of Memorial Health System of East Texas. His email address is

[email protected].

‘Cooling Out’ the voters ahead of electionConfidence men know that their

victim — “the mark” as he has been called — is eventually going

to realize that he has been cheated. But it makes a big difference whether he realizes it imme-diately, and goes to the police, or real-izes it after the con-fidence man is long gone.

So part of the confidence racket is creating a period of uncertainty, during which the victim is not yet sure of what is happening. This delaying process has been called “cooling out the mark.”

The same principle applies in politics. When the accusations that led to the im-peachment of President Bill Clinton first surfaced, he flatly denied them all. Then, as the months passed, the truth came out — but slowly, bit by bit. One of Clin-ton’s own White House aides later called it “telling the truth slowly.”

By the time the whole truth came out, it was called “old news,” and the clever phrase now was that we should “move on.”

It was a successful “cooling out” of the public, keeping them in uncertainty so long that, by the time the whole truth came out, there was no longer the same outrage as if the truth had suddenly come out all at once. Without the sup-port of an outraged public, the impeach-ment of President Clinton fizzled out in the Senate.

We are currently seeing another “cool-ing out” process, growing out of the ter-

rorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi on September 11th this year.

The belated release of State Depart-ment e-mails shows that the Obama administration knew, while the attack on the American consulate was still un-derway, that it was a coordinated, armed terrorist attack. They were getting re-ports from those inside the consulate who were under attack, as well as sur-veillance pictures from a camera on an American drone overhead.

About an hour before the attack, the scene outside was calm enough for the American ambassador to accompany a Turkish official to the gates of the con-sulate to say goodbye. This could hardly have happened if there were protesting mobs there.

Why then did both President Obama and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice keep repeating the story that this was a spon-taneous protest riot against an anti-Is-lamic video in America?

The White House knew the facts — but they knew that the voting public did not. And it mattered hugely whether the facts became known to the public before or after the election. What the White House needed was a process of “cooling out” the voters, keeping them distracted or in uncertainty as long as possible.

Not only did the Obama administra-tion keep repeating the false story about an anti-Islamic video being the cause of a riot that turned violent, the man who produced that video was tracked down and arrested, creating a media distrac-tion.

All this kept the video story front and center, with the actions and inactions of the Obama administration kept in the

background.The White House had to know that

it was only a matter of time before the truth would come out. But time was what mattered, with an election close at hand. The longer they could stretch out the period of distraction and uncer-tainty — “cooling out” the voters — the better. Once the confidence man in the White House was reelected, it would be politically irrelevant what facts came out.

As the Obama administration’s video story began to slowly unravel, their ear-lier misstatements were blamed on “the fog of war” that initially obscures many events. But there was no such “fog of war” in this case. The Obama adminis-tration knew what was happening while it was happening.

They didn’t know all the details — and we may never know all the details — but they knew enough to know that this was no protest demonstration that got out of hand.

From the time it took office, the Obama administration has sought to suppress the very concept of a “war on terror” or the terrorists’ war on us. The painful farce of calling the Fort Hood murders “workplace violence,” instead of a terrorist attack in our midst, shows how far the Obama administration would go to downplay the dangers of Is-lamic extremist terrorism.

The killing of Osama bin Laden fed the pretense that the terrorism threat had been beaten. But the terrorists’ at-tack in Libya exposed that fraud — and required another fraud to try to “cool out” the voters until after election day.

Thomas Sowell writes for Creators Syndicate.

TOdAY in hisTOrY

Civility in governmentMy thanks to Mr. Welch for his recent

article on his unpleasant experiences for supporting Barack Obama. I believe his story could be repeated by many Demo-crats. Isn’t it ironic that those who harp about individual rights are not willing to respect those who hold another political point of view? This mind set reminds me of the McCarthyism of the 1950s.

When I suggest racism to an anti-Obama relative, the response was indig-nation. Where did I come up with that idea! I cam up with the “idea’ because I have heard it stated by more than a few the last four years. It is certainly there.

Recently I visited an aged, seriously ill friend in the hospital. When I asked how he was doing, he stated that he intended to live long enough to help vote Obama out. I was taken aback by his priority!

When I meet people who are anti-Obamacare, I always ask them to tell me what Obamacare is — haven’t found anyone who knows anything about it — but it needs to be repealed. I advise them to visit the hospital ER’s on the weekend and health unit during the week — then decide.

We have lost all civility in our govern-ment. There are no statesmen left. There

are no across-the-aisle compromises, but rather outright war between the par-ties. It has now reached the local level. The stealing of Obama signs is but one example of the hostility we see each day. It’s a challenging time to be a Democrat but the pendulum always swings. When it does, I hope that we will be merciful to our Republican friends, keeping in mind that we live in a nation where we can have, by virtue of our heritage, different political views.

A.G. King, Lufkin

Be sure and voteDid I miss the presidential election?

I just read in the newspaper “Obama within reach of second term.”

We, the people, have not voted yet. This article says to me that there is no need to vote. The same day, ‘‘Good Morning America’’ stated the polls have closed tighter now. Well, who to believe? It’s not the media. I remember when a newscaster called the winner in a state too soon and had to eat crow.

People, just get out and vote your heart. God bless America and I hope you come back to our country, (and yes, I said God).

Debbie Conarroe, Lufkin

OCTOBER 30

One year ago■ Lufkin High School Panthers corrals Kingwood Mustangs, 35-23 in district football action.■ City, school, friends, coaches and former play-ers join legendary Lufkin High School Head Coach John Outlaw with 10-year reunion of the school’s first and only state football title.

Ten years ago■ Lufkin High School Marching Band receives three First Division ratings at the Region XXI UIL

Marching Band Contest held in Nacogdoches.■ Domestic violence victims honored with candle-light vigil sponsored by the Women’s Shelter of East Texas.

Twenty years ago■ Angelina College prepares for two-day celebra-tion marking its 25th anniversary.■ KTRE Weekend Anchor Leslie Hutson is named new director of the Area 7 Special Olympics program.


The Associated PressToday is Tuesday, Oct. 30, the 304th


Today’s Highlight in History:On Oct. 30, 1912, Vice President James

S. Sherman, running for a second term of office with President William Howard Taft, died six days before Election Day. (Sherman was replaced with Nicholas Murray Butler, but Taft, the Republican candidate, ended up losing in an Elector-al College landslide to Democrat Wood-row Wilson.)

On this date:In 1735, the second president of the

United States, John Adams, was born in

Braintree, Mass.In 1893, the U.S. Senate gave final

congressional approval to repealing the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890.

In 1921, the silent film classic “The Sheik,” starring Rudolph Valentino, pre-miered in Los Angeles.

In 1938, the radio play “The War of the Worlds,” starring Orson Welles, aired on CBS.

In 1945, the U.S. government an-nounced the end of shoe rationing, effec-tive at midnight.

In 1953, Gen. George C. Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Al-bert Schweitzer received the Peace Prize for 1952.


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The Dallas Morning News. Texas budget gimmickry

A multibillion-dollar stack of IOUs awaits state lawmakers when they return to Austin next year, and it’s a pile of their own making, the fruit of budget tricks that would leave Penn and Teller both speechless.

Gov. Rick Perry has a righteous gripe when it comes to the Legisla-ture’s fiscal gymnastics. That part of his stepped-up “truth in budgeting” campaign has merit, but other parts we have a major problem with.

When lawmakers adjourned their session last year, they left a nearly $5 billion Medicaid tab uncovered and scheduled a late aid payment to schools to balance the books. Then there is their slippery practice of siphoning off taxes dedicated for one purpose and pouring them into the general fund.

The granddaddy of all diversions is the big grab out of the highway fund, where fuel taxes and fees are supposed to go for road- and bridge-building. More than $1 billion of that money will be spent this budget cycle on other uses. North Texas, meanwhile, is forced to build major highways with toll financing.

Last week, Talmadge Heflin, budget specialist with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, testified to lawmakers that “even people with advanced degrees have trouble tracking funds in the budget, let alone the average taxpayer or legislator.”

In this light, Perry’s truth-in-bud-geting call is a good one, yet we won-der why his mind blanked when he signed the state’s current smoke-and-mirrors budget 16 months ago, saying, “I am proud Texas will continue to live within its means.”

The governor now is talking up a push for a constitutional amendment on spending to bind lawmakers’ hands in future sessions, and he has legisla-tive leaders, including Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, climbing on his band-wagon. The idea is to limit spending to a measure of population growth and inflation, but that strikes us as putting important decisions on auto-pilot instead of relying on elected lawmak-ers for judgment calls. Irresponsible is one way to put it. Political gimmickry is another.

Support for artificial checks on spending assumes the state is at an optimum level now, but it’s not. Ask principals who had to lay off teachers. Or drivers who feel gouged by month-ly toll bills for their daily commutes.

———Austin American-Statesman.

Voters no longer marked for deathThe potentially dead can breathe

easy. Worries that their voter registra-tion will be canceled and their right to vote denied next month have been lifted.

A welcome settlement was reached between the state and four living voters who received letters asking them to prove they were not dead or see their registration canceled. The agreement ends an unnecessary vot-ing rights controversy prompted by the letters ahead of the Nov. 6 election. A rushed deadline is lifted, and county registrars have time to establish that those voters the state considers poten-tially dead are really most sincerely dead.

The agreement drops a lawsuit filed by the four voters and clarifies rules registrars must follow when purging their registration rolls of dead voters. Confirmation a voter is dead now falls on registrars, not voters.

No confirmation, no removal from a voter registration list.

Voila, an agreement everyone can,

yes, live with.The controversy over this purge

effort originated, as these things tend to do, with the Legislature. A law passed in 2011 required county registrars to check their voter rolls against death reports from the Social Security Administration and not, as done previously, against the state’s vital statistics.

Trouble is, Social Security’s reports resulted in tens of thousands of so-called weak matches: names, dates of birth and last four digits of Social Se-curity numbers of people who might be dead appearing to match names, dates of birth and last four digits of Social Security numbers of people listed on federal records. The not quite dead became the potentially dead and their voter registration subject to cancellation.

Registrars sent letters to more than 80,000 Texans asking them to prove they are alive within 30 days of receiv-ing the letter or their voter registra-tion would be canceled. As soon as the first letters were opened, concerns were raised the letters would create confusion at the polls next month, if not downright disenfranchise some voters.

Four recipients of the letters who were not dead yet sued Texas Secre-tary of State Hope Andrade — the state official in charge of elections — in Travis County on Sept. 19, arguing the burden to prove they were alive shouldn’t be on them but on the state. They also argued the purge of voter rolls potentially violated the Voting Rights Act because federal approval was not sought before the purge began.

Further, if their registrations were cancelled, they argued, there might not be enough time to re-register and have the re-registration eligible for the Nov. 6 election.

Travis County District Judge Tim Sulak last month temporarily blocked the state from removing the names of voters who didn’t respond to the letters from registration rolls, a ruling Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott opposed. A hearing had been scheduled Thursday on whether to make Sulak’s order permanent, but Wednesday’s agreement made the hearing moot.

Clearing voter registration rolls of dead voters’ names is a necessary task. Under the agreement, registrars can continue to use so-called strong matches — voter names, dates of birth and complete Social Security numbers match death records — to remove a voter’s name from registration rolls. Strong matches raise no objections.

Let’s assume there was no nefari-ous motivation behind the purge of voter rolls, but its timing a couple of months before an election under-standably raised suspicions. Suspi-cions were primed to be raised, given well-founded concerns about photo ID laws and other attempts to restrict voters’ rights.

A federal court stopped Texas’ photo ID law in August on grounds it threatens the rights of minority and low-income voters. This week, a Pennsylvania judge stopped that state’s photo ID law. And attempts to purge voter rolls and limit registration in other states have been in the news lately, most notably in Florida, where suspicious voter registration forms linked to a company hired by the state Republican Party have come to light.

Abbott issued a statement blessing Wednesday’s agreement and talking about “improving the integrity of the election system.” No one opposes integrity in the system; the question is whether the new voting laws harm the systems’ integrity rather than improve it.


Texas community colleges lead the nation

A new nation-al report highlights

the important role that community/junior colleges play in attaining a four-year degree, and Texas leads the na-tion.

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 45 per-cent of students receiving a four-year degree in 2010-2011 attended a communi-ty college for some of their coursework. This number varies greatly among states — from a low of 19 percent in Alaska, to a national high of 78 percent in Texas.

It is not surprising that Texas is tops in students transferring credit. The state is covered by 50 local community colleg-es that give students affordable access

to many higher education options. The state-mandated common course num-bering system insures transferability of courses in the core curriculum across public colleges and universities in the state.

Universities are increasingly re-cruiting community college transfer students. These students usually do very well after transfer, especially if they completed the core curriculum or earned an Associate Degree at the com-munity college.

Students use community college credits in many ways. Many take the traditional path of transfer by start-ing at their local community college. In fact, 70 percent of all freshmen in Texas now attend community colleges. Thou-sands of high school students now take concurrent or dual credit courses while still in high school thus gaining college credit and saving on tuition costs. An increasing number of students start at a

four-year school and then come back to a community college, especially during the summer, to take freshman and soph-omore courses. A surprising number of students take classes at a university and a community college at the same time, “filling in” core requirements with classes through the junior college.

Texas community/junior colleges play a key role in the economy of the state by providing most of the occupa-tional education and technical training needed for new jobs.

The other major mission of com-munity colleges, university transfer, is highlighted in this new Clearinghouse Research report showing that for almost four out of five Texans the route to a uni-versity degree somehow goes through a community college.

Statistics from American Association of Community Colleges, September, 2012.

Larry Phillips is president of Angelina College. His email address is [email protected].

Election 2012: A chance to do the right thingHere we are again, election time!

We have yet another opportu-nity to exercise the right that so

many fought for, and died for. We have yet another opportunity to go to the polls and make a bold statement about the African American elector-ate and it viability in the 21st century. But the question is — will we? Our track record is not good. While we voted in 2008 at a marginal increase, the record shows that of the almost 4000 eligible voters in North Lufkin the vast major-ity failed to go to the polls. And in 2010 the percentage of those who bothered to vote in the midterm elections was 4.7 percent.

This lack of civic responsibility is a travesty, and it must stop! This apa-thetic, uncaring, “whatever” attitude about voting is a slap in the face to all of the ancestors who struggled through poll taxes, and stupid questions that were unanswerable to exercise their constitutional right to vote. The lack of urgency is evident, yet if the candidate of our choice loses, we will not be short on complaints and accusations. We have the ability to make a difference, to re-

mind the political community that they cannot just ignore the African Ameri-can constituency because we have been rendered a non-issue.

We must not sit at home with an at-titude of apathy while the future of our children is decided this November. We must not succumb to the mind set that our vote does not matter. We must not simply make excuses or be reductive in our resolve that “God is in control” so it doesn’t matter what we do. As this writer reminded us in 2010, “What if the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. King, a Baptist preacher, had said nothing, and done nothing? What rights would we have today?” We certainly would not have the right to vote. We surely would not have the legislation that became the reasoning for the overturning of the 2012 Voter ID Law. We must exercise our faith on our knees, yes, but also at the polls.

I urge each pastor, each community leader, to not just talk the talk, but walk the walk. We need rallies and marches to bring this election into the forefront of our minds. We must return to the days when the church was the place where the community heard the issues, and were able to know the candidates that were best for the African Ameri-can community. While the Pastor him or herself cannot endorse a candidate, a church political concerns committee can. The African American church is

still the only institution that is governed by us, so we cannot fail to apply the his-toric precedence in matters of social jus-tice. Civic organizations are doing their part, and we must join them in coalition to make a difference. These methods are not divisive, but represent the recogni-tion and the honoring of the legacy of those who paved the way for our present freedoms.

On Nov. 7, 2012, we have another op-portunity to go to the polls and I pray that we do. There will be early voting op-portunities as well as mail-in voting for students and those who may be disabled or ill. There is no reason that the Afri-can American vote cannot return to is former power. But we must vote to show our commitment to making a difference in the political climate of this country. We must vote to honor the legacy of those who have come before us. We must vote to proactively take the reins of our present condition. We must vote to pave the way for the younger generation who looks to us for direction. We must vote to ensure a brighter tomorrow for those who are yet to be born. We must vote be-cause it is the “right “ thing to do. Our past obligates us. Our present compels us. Our future requires us — to vote!

On Wednesday, Nov. 7, if you didn’t vote — shut up!Rev. Valencia Edner of Lufkin is pastor of Mt. Zion CME

in Center and a contributing writer for Bright Star.

TOdAY in hisTOrY


■ The third annual Power of Pink Art Bra Contest doubled its size this year to include 29 festive and unique bras, with breast cancer awareness theme. The event is hosted by Memorial Medical Center and Abeldt’s Pharmacy.■ Lufkin Police Department investigates ‘payday loan’ scam being targeted at elderly Lufkin residents.

Ten years ago■ Democrat Barry Bryan and Republican Al Charanza seek Angelina County Court-at-law

judgeship.■ Lufkin Planning & Zoning Commission ap-proves formal plat for the Saddle Ridge II subdivi-sion location on FM 326.

Twenty years ago■ Texas Gov. Ann Richards names Lufkin busi-nessman Murphy George to the Texas Department of Commerce and local builder Rufus Duncan to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice.■ Lufkin High School Class 1945-46 establishes Pete Runnels Memorial Scholarship.


The Associated PressToday is Monday, Oct. 15, the 289th


Today’s Highlight in History:On Oct. 15, 1917, Dutch dancer Mata

Hari, convicted of spying for the Ger-mans, was executed by a French firing squad outside Paris.

On this date:In 1858, the seventh and final debate

between senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas took place in Alton, Ill.

In 1860, 11-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., wrote a letter to presi-dential candidate Abraham Lincoln,

suggesting he could improve his appear-ance by growing a beard.

In 1928, the German dirigible Graf Zeppelin landed in Lakehurst, N.J., com-pleting its first commercial flight across the Atlantic.

In 1937, the Ernest Hemingway novel “To Have and Have Not” was first pub-lished by Charles Scribner’s Sons.

In 1945, the former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, was executed for treason.

In 1946, Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering fatally poisoned himself hours before he was to have been executed.

In 1951, the classic sitcom “I Love Lucy” premiered on CBS with the epi-

sode “The Girls Want to Go to the Night-club.”

In 1964, it was announced that Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev had been removed from office.

In 1969, peace demonstrators staged activities across the country as part of a “moratorium” against the Vietnam War.

In 1976, in the first debate of its kind between vice presidential nominees, Democrat Walter F. Mondale and Repub-lican Bob Dole faced off in Houston.

In 1991, despite sexual harassment allegations by Anita Hill, the Senate narrowly confirmed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, 52-48.


4aopinionLuFkindAiLYnews.COmmOndAY, OCTOber 15, 2012 THE LuFkIN NEwS


LArrY phiLLips

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Andy AdamsEditor










Let’s start by saying this, and we mean it: Everyone deserves the presumption of innocence until they are

proven in a court of law to be guilty of a crime. We report on arrests all the time, and most of those do end up with guilty pleas or guilty ver-dicts, but many of the charges end up being dismissed. Sometimes, police get the wrong guy.

With that said, Lufkin Police investigators seem confident they have captured the man they have been calling the “Door Kick Burglar” after break-ins at homes across Lufkin. We hope they’re right, because the person (or peo-ple) responsible for the burglaries has created a lot of anxiety among residents throughout the city. Bur-glaries are nothing new in any city, but it’s clear that this recent spree had frightened people — or, at the least, raised our level of awareness — in a way that previous, more occasional break-ins had not.

It also has been clear to us that the Lufkin Police Department was devoting all its resources to catch-ing and prosecuting the Door Kick Burglar before he did any more damage or before someone got hurt. We’ve been seeing patrol cars parked on side streets in several subdivisions the last couple weeks, and the tactic appears to have worked: The Tuesday night arrest

came about as the result of a wit-ness passing a tip to an LPD officer who was on patrol. Just minutes later, the suspect was in custody.

We appreciate the work that every one of our Lufkin Police officers and investigators — in-cluding Chief Scott Marcotte and Assistant Chief Gerald Williamson, who have taken on patrol duties themselves — has done to solve this case. Many have made sacrifices in their personal lives during the months-long investigation. We join LPD in thanking the Texas Depart-ment of Public Safety Air Support crews from Longview for their help, as well.

It’s a terrible feeling to have someone come into your home and help themselves to your posses-sions, and that scenario has played out way too many times these past few months.

While we may not know, for a while, the disposition of the crimi-nal case against the man suspected of being the Door Kick Burglar, we hope that this week’s arrest will bring some peace to Lufkin families who have been worried that their home might be the next target. We all still need to use common sense in protecting our homes (by locking our doors, turning on outside lights at night, activating our alarms, etc.), but perhaps now we can breathe a big sigh of relief.

Door Kick BurglarLufkin Police to be commended for arrest

after months of continuous home break-ins

Saluting those who serve our veteransAs the proud daughter of a Viet-

nam veteran, I think observing Ve t e r a n s

Day is important, whether it’s flying an American flag, saying a prayer, thanking a veteran for his or her ser-vice or attending a parade or cer-emony. It’s the very least we can do for those who have fought for or protected our freedom.

There are people in our commu-nity, though, who go above and beyond the one day set aside for our veterans. Through countless hours over weeks, months and even years, they have bet-tered the lives of generations of veter-ans and raised awareness of the sacri-fices they made for our country.

I first met the ladies of American Le-gion Auxiliary Unit 113 a few years ago when I did a story about the “Because We Care” boxes they sent to troops serv-ing overseas. It was during the height of the war, and the number of boxes sent each month was more than double the number of women in the group. Now, the boxes are fewer, but the group’s ef-forts are just as large.

Three times a month, members and volunteers meet at the Charles Wilson VA Outpatient Clinic to make sandwich-

es for the veterans who have appoint-ments that day. Many of the veterans arrive at the clinic on an empty stomach for blood work, which means they may sit hungry while they wait to be called for their appointment.

They serve more than 70 sandwiches each time, more than 200 a month.

The group also hands out memorial poppies at the annual Honor America Celebration, which this year will be held Saturday at Abe Martin Stadium, and on Memorial Day in front of Walmart. Last month, they hosted a remembrance cer-emony on National POW/MIA Recogni-tion Day. They are there on Flag Day, at parades, at community events, on holi-days. Most importantly, they are there when there is no occasion at all.

Another group called the Sew ‘N Sew Sisters, meets at the Angelina County Senior Citizens Center to sew blankets, pillows, toiletry bags, goody bags, wheel-chair bags, lap throws, tracheotomy cov-ers, and more, for veteran patients at the Michael E. Debakey VA Medical Center in Houston. The group’s members, who like working anonymously, just finished more than 300 Christmas stockings that ALA Unit 113 will be filling with treats and sending to troops, as well as hand-ing out at the medical center and to vet-erans in nursing homes.

Speaking of nursing homes, one ALA member visits veterans who live in assisted living facilities and nursing

homes, just to let them know they are still important. Another member turns old button-down shirts into more digni-fied surgical gowns — she’s made more than 1,000 so far.

And, because some VA patients say their head gets cold while visiting the VA hospital, now the group is looking to collect new baseball caps.

There is so much more this group and its supporters do for our veterans. This column would take up the entire page if I were to try to list it all. But still, when member Lucy Burris was sharing some of her stories, she told me, “We just can’t do enough for them.”

For these wonderful people, every day is Veterans Day. And really, isn’t that the way it should be for all of us?

———Want to help? Monetary donations

can be sent to ALA Unit 113, P.O. Box 2605, Lufkin, TX, 75902. Item donations for “Because We Care” packages can be dropped off at the Senior Center, 2801 Valley Ave.

For more information about joining the organization or volunteering with the group, email [email protected] or call Rita Redd at 674-7347. To learn more about the group, go to ala113lufkin.org or search for American Legion Aux-iliary No. 113, Lufkin TX on Facebook.


[email protected].

Anything is possible in our great countryA majority of Americans have vot-

ed to re-elect President Barack Obama to another four-year

term. The divisions in our country be-came more evident with such a nar-row margin in the popular votes na-tionwide. Does that mean we are in for another four years of partisanship and bickering from those in our federal government? There have been indica-tions both ways.

Congratulations to President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney for their concilia-tory comments. Romney urged that we “put the people before politics,” “reach across the aisle for solutions” and “pray for President Obama.”

His remarks were a display of per-sonal class and dignity, traits that have been in short supply on both sides of the political aisle at times.

Obama in his post-election remarks called for bipartisan efforts and said he would be meeting with Romney to explore common ground. The idea is to put less emphasis on who wins and more

emphasis on solving problems. Surely grown men and women who represent us in Washington, D.C., could figure out a way to suck up their differences and get on with the business of our pur-suit of “a more perfect union.” If they cannot, then they are worthless to the American people and they need to find a different line of work. We should ob-serve their efforts closely. The 2014 elec-tions will allow us opportunities to thin out the demagogues and obstructionists.

Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner has stated the need for both parties to “find common ground and take steps together.’’ Boehner is in the best position of anyone in the coun-try to make that goal attainable. Hope-fully he will have support to simply walk across the aisle and say: “Hey, guys, let’s talk. Our nation needs us.” Unfortunate-ly, not all Republican leaders will join him in that effort.

Donald Trump rained on the biparti-san parade big time with the following comments: “This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy” and “We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this trav-esty. Our nation is totally divided.” Yes, Mr. Trump, we are divided, and your inane comments will not help us to be-

come otherwise.Sarah Palin, an authority on who the

real Americans are, referred to the elec-tion results as “a catastrophic setback.” She will likely join Trump for his march to Washington as there will be lots of TV cameras to increase her celebrity status and thus her marketability.

Herman Cain says that “those who voted for Obama were not voting for anything substantive but rather were participating in a popularity contest.” That is just another slant on the “off the record” comments made by Romney when he wrote off 47 percent of Ameri-cans. Little did he know that he was ac-tually writing off slightly more than 50 percent.

It is with sincere hope that our na-tional Republican leaders will disre-gard Trump, Palin, Cain and any others whose tactics continue to be divisive.

It is also my sincere hope that when the Republicans cross the aisle to talk that the Democrats will say, “Welcome, let’s get to work.”

Anything is possible in our great country. “Let it be.”

Claude E. Welch, Lufkin attorney and former Angelina County judge. His email is

[email protected]. or facebook.com/claudee.welch.

TOdAY in hisTOrY

NOVEMBER 9

One year ago■ Hudson votes down measure that would create Angelina County’s first emergency services district.■ Angelina County Commissioners pushes for unused Hurricane Ike funds to remain in region.

Ten years ago■ Panthers storm off to 22-0 lead and hold off Longview surge to take 29-20 win at Abe Martin Stadium.

■ The City of Lufkin’s sales tax rebate for this month is 12.3 percent less than it was in Novem-ber last year.

Twenty years ago■ Lufkin Industries cuts dividends; stock plunges.■ Champion International is the single largest donor to the Angelina County United Way with employees donating $61,744.41 and a company match for a total of $123,488.82



Today is Friday, Nov. 9, the 314th day of 2012. There are 52 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Nov. 9, 1938, Nazis looted and

burned synagogues as well as Jewish-owned stores and houses in Germany and Austria in a pogrom that became known as “Kristallnacht.”

On this date:In 1620, the passengers and crew of

the Mayflower sighted Cape Cod.In 1872, fire destroyed nearly 800

buildings in Boston.In 1918, it was announced that Germa-

ny’s Kaiser Wilhelm II would abdicate. He then fled to the Netherlands.

In 1952, Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel, died.

In 1953, Welsh author-poet Dylan Thomas died in New York at age 39.

In 1961, U.S. Air Force Maj. Robert M. White became the first pilot to fly an X-15 rocket plane at six times the speed of sound. The Beatles’ future manager, Brian Epstein, first saw the group per-form at The Cavern Club in Liverpool,

England.In 1963, twin disasters struck Japan

as some 450 miners were killed in a coal-dust explosion, and about 160 people died in a train crash.

In 1965, the great Northeast blackout occurred as a series of power failures lasting up to 13½ hours left 30 million people in seven states and part of Cana-da without electricity.

In 1967, a Saturn V rocket carrying an unmanned Apollo spacecraft blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a successful test flight.


6aopinionLuFkindAiLYnews.COmFridAY, nOvember 9, 2012 THE LUFkIN NEWS


denise hOePFner

CLAude e. weLCh

Nov. 6, 2012, is a day that will go down in infamy. We have per-s o n a l l y

witnessed the de-mise of the great-est nation on earth. The script has been written. The curtain has been drawn for the third act of a play that was written by Karl Marx. The players are trained accord-ing to a play book written by Saul Alin-sky called Rules for Radicals. We should not be surprised at the way it ends up. Still, we are shocked at how surreal it is watching the cataclysmic transforma-tion of a nation from capitalism to social-ism and then to communism. That is the third act. The death knell has sounded.

Obama said he would “fundamentally change America” and for once, he told the truth. Excuse me, one other time he apparently got it right was when he said we are not a Christian nation. The fact is indisputable, we have left our love of God and Country and given place to the devil. We have exchanged our national soul for a welfare check. Our allegiance has changed from the land of the free to big government. Dependence on God has given place to dependence on the ungodly. The entitlement mentality of this country has made slaves of us all. We woke up this morning and realized that a majority of the people, both legal and illegal, were used in this neo-social-ist scheme of government control and domination. As Lenin said, the masses are “useful idiots.” Freedom must, and will give way to the politburo. Your hard earned future will be redistributed to those who don’t produce. All incen-tive for work and saving will soon be gone — usurped by an overreaching, all consuming and Godless federal govern-ment. We are fools to believe that social-ism will work for us when it has utterly failed in Russia, Greece and most of the European countries that have tried it.

This is an insidious plan that most of us did not recognize or believe. We al-

lowed ourselves to become pawns in this contest for control of our lives. Fifty per-cent of the people have been bought for a pittance and all Obama had to do was call in the chips.

This is a calamity of epic proportion. This ship, called America is going down and we will be conscripted into bailing it out. Our strength of collective char-acter has been compromised nation-ally and internationally, along with our reputation. There is no longer a political strategy that can save us. There is only one way and we have rejected him. It is impossible to recover our self esteem or respect in the world on our own. Hu-manism is the anti-Christ attitude that prevails today. Hopefully it is not too late to humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God and turn from our wicked ways. History says that probably won’t happen. We know that it is said that all that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. And so it has. We have squandered our liberty by Christian pacifism. We have compro-mised until our conscience is so seared that the truth is no longer visible. Now our only hope is mercy.

Our options are extremely limited. None are pleasant. We can give up and give in or stand and defy the giant as King David did, trusting in the Lord. We certainly have to stop bending our knee to Baal and bowing to foreign gods and kings. The scripture says “Blessed is the man whose god is the Lord.” so stop be-ing ashamed of the Gospel because “… it is the power of God unto salvation.” Proclaim the word of God with boldness. Stand on principle regardless of the pressure to give up. Defend our God-giv-en, inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of purpose with all diligence.

Thank God we live in Texas and I am particularly proud to live in Angelina County. We are still responsible for our families and our future. Let’s take the Bible, the Constitution and our guns and stand on them ’til hell freezes over, if necessary. We are in good company, right is on our side and we are Texans.

Robert Flournoy is the chairman of the Angelina County Republican Party.

My thoughts on the day after

rOberT FLOurnOY

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