The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 16, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 17, 2003 Page: 3 of 28
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?6e @a*taduM RJECORD
THURSDAY 17 APRIL 2003
3
letters
to the editors
Let's Not Feed the Greed
AFTER SPENDING ANOTHER long day working in rural health
care, it disheartened me to come home to your editorial criticizing ef-
forts "to cap non-economic malpractice damages for pain and suffering
at a maximum of $250,000." Weren't non-economic damage awards
originally designed to punish egregious acts of ignobility? Weren't they
added to awards of actual damages, theoretically to make public exam-
ples of particularly odious behaviors?
Now we've lost appreciation for the original purpose of these sup-
plemental awards, and anybody willing to initiate a lawsuit is led to be-
lieve there should be no limit to recovery of money above and beyond
damages suffered. That's a fiscally unsustainable belief.
Recently physicians in West Virginia stopped providing medical
care briefly to protest how the flurry of lawsuits was crippling the sol-
vency of medical practices in that state. It was wryly pointed out that
the surge in medical lawsuits could be because there's not any other lot-
tery in West Virginia.
There's so much in life that's tragic and unfair, yet related to human
error. The death of our first son in a pickup wreck could have been
averted if he'd worn his seat belt as we trained him. It surprised me
that I had to consciously forgive myself that he had not buckled up.
Yet in a way, I'm aware that his death instead of prolonged disability
allowed healing to begin that day.
Our legal system allows any misadventure to become a potential
door to unearned wealth, whether in medical, manufacturing, or ser-
vice fields. How hollow it seems to believe that money could ever re-
place my son. How sad it would be to trivialize the gains that American
medicine has made. Where else can such hope for a cure be found in all
our world?
We're all imperfect. It's not true that limits on non-economic mal-
practice damages would curtail awards for actual damages. Let's not
feed the greed so rampant in our society. Life is unfair, but we can
adapt to the vicissitudes and grow more noble if we choose to be fiscally
reasonable when we're wronged.
HUGH H. WILSON, JR., MD, CHS '62
Eastland TX 76448
The Road from Baghdad... Continued from Page 2
also is shaping up over who gets contracts to rebuild Iraq and its oil
production.
The Pentagon, led by Rumsfeld, Cheney, Perle and Wolfowitz, want
to replace the Ba'athists with the Iraqi National Congress (INC), a
group of exiles led by Ahmed Chalabi. He is largely unknown in Iraq,
since his family fled in 1958 when the Ba'ath Party overthrew the mon-
archy, but Chalabi is best known in the Mideast for the spectacular
1989 failure of his Petra Bank in neighboring Jordan.
That resulted in 1992 fraud convictions against Chalabi on 31
charges of embezzlement, theft, misuse of depositor funds and cur-
rency speculation after he skipped the country. The CIA severed its re-
lationship with INC after it was unable to account for millions of dollars
in covert US aid. But the Pentagon reinstated the aid and now Chalabi
appears to be Bush's choice to follow Washington's orders.
Maybe Bush can also find a spot for his old pal Ken Lay in Baghdad.
And while the US focuses on taking out Saddam the Taliban is moving
back into Afghanistan—remember Afghanistan? A1 Qaeda's Osama
bin Laden, who unlike Saddam actually has a connection to 9/11, re-
mains at large and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said the US-led
war on Iraq would produce ''100 new bin Ladens" as Muslims are
driven to militancy.
Former CIA director Woolsey, in an April 2 speech at the Univer-
sity of California in Los Angeles, said the invasion of Iraq was merely
the opening campaign of World War IV (assuming the Cold War was
WWIII). The new war, he said, is actually against three enemies:: the
religious rulers of Iran, the "fascists" of Iraq and Syria, and Islamic ex-
tremists like al Qaeda.
The road from Baghdad goes nowhere near home.
opinion
page
m>m bcws
HCWN5ETWQSE
G0ING7
Pipes, gnats and the west wind
Braying
from
burro
hill
THERE ARE AS MANY SAYINGS and quotes
about the west wind as there are gnats on the plains,
and in that there is no shortage.
Each spring we are blessed with the buffalo gnat
here on the plains. They have been here since the
great flood or as long as the buffalo were here. The
wild buffalo are gone, along with the wild Indian and
the plainsman, but the gnat is still here, stealing a
blood meal where he can.
It is said that the gnat
came here when the Rus-
sian olive tree was intro-
duced to the Panhandle in
the sixties. That is not
so—the key word is
BUFFALO gnat. It is not
the Russian olive gnat. I
can't figure how that got
started.
This biting bug likes
bright sunny warm days
where, there is no wind. If
you have ever tried to ac-
complish anything outside
this time of year without
some type of repellent,
then you know how frustrating it can be. The second
your hands are busy, the gnat attacks your ears and
face in force, leaving small red welts everywhere it
bites.
There have been many remedies over the years
to repel this unwanted pest, and some even work.
The canned pest spray you can purchase at almost
any store does a fairly good job if you don't mind
grease or oil on you along with some kind of poison
mixed with it. The Avon product, "Skin So Soft," is
also slick but does keep the pest at bay; however, it is
also greasy and makes one smell "sorta"
sweet—perfumie-if you catch my drift.
Did I say bay? The bay leaf, when boiled and used
as a spray (don't forget to let it cool before you use
it), is rather a pleasant smell and the gnat will aban-
A COLUMN BY
don you for another. Then there is vanilla.
Now, that is the perfect repellent, a bit sticky,
but you not only repel the bug, you are re-
minded of cookies all day long. What else
could you ask for?
There have been many sayings about the
west wind, both good and bad. "When the,
wind's from the west, the fishing is the best,"
or "The west wind bodes no
good," and "Beware what
comes on the west wind,"
just to call a few.
Any wind is welcome
when the gnats are
about—east, west, north or
south. The bugs are poor
fliers and don't bother you
when the winds are here.
Folks who grew up work-
ing the fields learned that
the pipe was a good weapon
against gnats and other bit-
ing flying insects. I don't
recommend smoking to
anyone but I reckon you
could be like Clinton and
just not inhale. Some pipe tobacco is not so un-
pleasant to be around and there might even be
a vanilla cookie-flavored tobacco.
If none of these meet with your approval,
some folk just swat or wait until the sun goes
to bed and get their outdoor chores finished at
night or live where there are no buffalo gnats.
I recently visited with some of our turkey
hunters from down state who told of their fire
ants and killer bees. I will take the gnat over
those critters and stay here. As soon as the
weather gets hot, the nuisance will go away
for the most part. While they are about, I like,
the vanilla idea.
I think it's time for some cookies.
Enjoy your world—it's a good place to be!
BOB ROGERS
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Ezzell, Nancy & Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 16, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 17, 2003, newspaper, April 17, 2003; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth220575/m1/3/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.