The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 44, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 31, 2002 Page: 2 of 28
twenty eight pages : ill. ; page 17 x 11 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
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2
THURSDAY 31 OCTOBER 2002
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opinion
page
by laurie ezzell brown
ML WGWV, BOYS*- NO mm
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Congress must act on
Children's Health Care
By F. Seott McCnwn and flnne Bunkelberg
A MODERN MALADY is the childhood ear infec-
tion—when a child's inner ear
fills with fluid and becomes infected. Inner ear
infections can cause severe pain. Chronic inner ear
infections can delay language development and
cause learning disabilities.
No child should have to suffer the excruciating
pain of an earache because the child's family is too
poor to afford health care. Nor is it smart for our
state to save the cost of treating a child's earache
only to pay the greater cost of treating a child's
learning disability or losing the child
as a productive citizen.
Texans support health care for children in low-in-
come families. We provide care through Medicaid
and the Children's Health Insurance Program
Continued on Page 3
RECORD
INCORPORATED FEBRUARY 1998
USPS 087-960
P.O. BOX 898, CANADIAN (HEMPHILL) TX 79014
TELEPHONE: (806)323-6461 FAX: (806)323-5738
E-MAIL: canadianrecord@canadianrecord.com
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Periodicals postage paid in Canadian, Texas.
Published weekly
in Canadian, Texas, by Nancy M. Ezzell.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
The Canadian Record, Box 898, Canadian, TX 79014
BEN EZZELL Editor & Publisher 1948-1993
NANCY EZZELL Editor & Publisher
LAURIE EZZELL BROWN, Editor
editor® canadianrecord. com
TONYA FINSTERWALD, Advertising Manager
advertising@canadianrecord. com
CLAUDIA HERNANDEZ, Advertising Assistant
CATHY RICKETTS, News & Features
news@canadianrecord.com
MARY SMITHEE, Office Manager
circulation® canadianrecord. com
Design & Production: KIM McKINNEY
Cover Design: TONYA FINSTERWALD
photography LAURIE BROWN, CATHY RICKETTS
SETH DAVIDSON
MEMBER
2002
Ttt
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
TOMMY ANDREWS, the owner of Andrews Plumbing, is licensed
with the State of Texas as a Master Plumber as provided for by the
Plumbing License Law of 1947. To do business in the City of Canadian,
Andrews must also show proof of his licensure, as required by the City
Plumbing Code, and must post a surety bond with the City in the sum of
$1,000.
That bond assures that the person who is engaged in the plumbing
business will faithfully observe all the laws pertaining to plumbing, and
further indemnifies the City against any claims arising from any negli-
gence by that person's work.
Fair enough, I'd say. Andrews has met all of those requirements,
and has had a successful, well-respected plumbing business in this com-
munity for over a decade.
As a bail bondsman, Andrews must also meet similar requirements.
Although exempted from licensure because he operates his bail bonds
business in a county that falls below the minimum population require-
ment, the State of Texas' Occupations Code spells out other require-
ments that Andrews must meet to stay in business.
In an interview with Andrews this week, I discovered that he is
pretty well-versed in that law as it pertains to the bail bonds business,
and that he acknowledges and has met those requirements. In fact, An-
drews was eager to tell me that he has recently taken steps to become a
licensed private investigator and to expand his capabilities as a bail
bondsman.
All well and good.
One would, then, assume that Andrews has also given the same at-
tention to his education in the State's requirements to serve as a pri-
vate security officer, since he owns and operates River City Security.
That business bubbled to the surface recently as it relates to the ongo-
ing controversy over the scope of the Hemphill County Sheriffs Of-
fice's responsibilities within the City limits, which I have duly and
somewhat tiresomely reported.
Having in the course of my reporting achieved a heightened aware-
ness of private security officers and the folks who wear their uniforms
in our community, I thought I ought to become better educated about
the law which pertains to them. My first stop was Sheriff Butcher's of-
fice, where I posed the burning question: whether a convicted felon
could be employed as a security officer.
Of course, I assumed the answer miist be no. Ridiculous even to
think that someone who has been convicted of breaking the law might
be in a position of exercising authority over other potential
lawbreakers.
Sheriff Butcher appeared less than curious about felons providing
security, and referred me to County Attorney Ty Sparks, whose opin-
ion on the subject I then sought. Mr. Sparks either could not, or would
not, answer my question....even when I persisted my inquiry in subse-
quent phone calls to his office, and in a public meeting between City
Council members and County Commissioners where I briefly asked
for, and took, the floor.
When I asked my question again at that meeting, Sparks actually
deferred to Tommy Andrews, whose answer began with the words
"Near as I can tell."
That seemed like a less than satisfactory legal opinion to me, so I
consulted the next reliable authority: the Internet.
Now I'm no attorney, nor do I ever want to be one. My dad always
used to say that law school would provide a better education for a news-
paper editor than journalism school, and I've got to admit he was
dead-on right about that. I can handle the English language pretty
well, and certainly know how to ask questions that nobody wants to an-
swer. But negotiating the arcane world of legalese...now there's an
un-navigable quagmire for you.
Give me credit for trying, though. In fact, give me credit for knowing
a heckuva a lot more about this State's laws on private security officers
and the laws that bind them than any lawyer or law enforcement officer
in this town, at this point.
I was relieved to learn, finally, that indeed, felons cannot be em-
ployed as! security officers. I was frankly dumfounded to learn, how-
ever, that neither Tommy Andrews nor his employees—one of whom,
Dale Carr, is a convicted felon—were licensed by this state as private
security officers.
I was frankly troubled to learn that not only are they operating an il-
legal business in violation of the Texas Occupations Code, but that they
were doing so under the wide-open eyes of County Attorney Ty Sparks
Continued on Page 3
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Ezzell, Nancy & Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 44, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 31, 2002, newspaper, October 31, 2002; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth220551/m1/2/: accessed May 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.