The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 41, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 9, 2003 Page: 3 of 28
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THE CANADIAN RECORD
THURSDAY9 OCTOBER 2003
3
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Fall beauty
AS FALL FOLIAGE WEEKEND approaches, I want to encourage
everyone who lives here in Canadian to drive out of town in every direc-
tion (10 or 15 miles is probably far enough). Turn your vehicle around
and come back.
I hope as you return and view the rocky mesas to the west, the rolling
sand hills to the east, and the colorful cottonwoods along the Canadian
River, that you will agree with this thought: "I will see enough sky to
have it remind me, as it has since childhood, of how God loves us enough
to give us all this grand beauty." —Tony Hillerman, Seldom-
Disappointed.
Really, the scenery can be breathtaking-don't miss it and don't take
it for granted!
Always racing,
TAMARA REINHARDT
Field Notes from page 2
But then I... just turned off mean..
I hate everybody don't think like me,
And I'd rather see you dead than I'd ever see you free.
Rather see you starved to death
Than sm you at work —
And I'm readin' all the books I can
To learn how to hurt —
Daily Misery — spread diseases,
Keep you withoiit no vote,
Keep you without no union:.
Well, I hurt when I see.you gettm 'long so well
I'd ten times rather see you in the fires of hell.
I cant stand to fixed... see you there all fixed up in that house so nice,
I'd rather keep you in that rotten hole\ with the bugs and the lice,
And the roaches, and the turnamights,
And the sand fleas, mid the inter bugs,
And th e gr ub worms, and the stingareesj
And the vinegaroms, andihe trazzlers [?],
And the spiders; childs of the earth,
The ticks a?id the blow-flies —
The se is all of my little angels
That go 'mimd helpin'nte do the best parts of my meanness.
And mosqwiters...
Well, I used to be a pretty fair organized feller,
Till I turned a scab and then I turned offyelle r;
Fought ev'ry union with teeth and toenail,
An d I spro uted a site-inch sti nger right in the/middle of the tail,
And I growed horns...
And then I cut 'em off, I want ed to fool you.
I hated union everwhere,
'Came, God likes, unions
And I hate God!
Well, if I can get the fat to hatin the lean
That'd tickle we more than anything I've seen,
Then get the colors tofightim'one another,
And friend againstftiend, xund brother... and sister againstbrother,
That 11 be j ust stiff [?].
Everybody's brains a-boilin'in turpentine,
And their teeth fallin'out all up and down the streets,
That'll just swititjhefirie.
'Cause I hate ever'thing that'minion,
And I hate emr'thing that's organized,
And I hate ever'thing that 's planned,
And I love to hate and I hate to love!
I'm mea% I'm just mean*..
KxkJ— u ^
ITi J- P " 51
j Li j
State Capitol
Highlights
by Mike Con
JIMS PHtSS HSSDCIIITM
AUSTIN—Economic devel-
opment sounds like just an-
other pair of political buzz
words unless you don't have a
job.
With the beginning of the
state's new fiscal year, Texas'
economic development func-
tions were folded into the gov-
ernor's office,. That was a
matter of legislative fiat, as
well creation of the $295 mil-
lion Enterprise Fund, a finan-
cial pot designed to allow
Texas to respond fast in at-
tracting new employers to the
state.
Luring Toyota to San Anto-
nio, an effort mounted well before
creation of this fund, stands as the
top accomplishment in recent
years. The idea behind the new
fund is to make something such as
landing Toyota happen more of-
ten in Texas.
With private money, the gover-
nor's office has launched a mar-
keting campaign called Texas
One. The job-generation program
is headed by MasSey Villareal,
chair of the Texas Economic De-
velopment Board.
Texas One has one big job
ahead of it, but the employee pic-
ture in Texas already has gotten a
little better. In August, Texas
gained 28,500 jobs.
That was the first monthly in-
crease since May 2000.
Bitor'aid'to Texas
Sure, everyone knows Texas
produces a lot of cotton, cattle and
oil (to keep the list of famous
Texas products in chronological
order), but alligators as a cash
crop?
According to the Texas Parks
and Wildlife Department, the
state has 29 licensed alligator
farms with 44,000 alligators.
This is a lot smaller than the al-
ligator industry in Louisiana,
which has 122 licensed farms, but
even so, it's a $10 million business
in Texas. That's the estimated in-
come derived from the sale of alli-
gator hides and products made
from hides, including boots, belts,
purses and other items.
The first Texas alligator farm
was licensed in Rockport in 1986.
TPWD got $5,200 in license fees in
2001.
Seen any geckos lately?
Another Texas reptile has
been showing up in strange
places—on highway ramps and
overpasses. Michael Ford, a
graphic designer in the Texas De-
partment of Transportation's
bridge division, is the artist who
designs the decorative features
that grace many new highway
projects in the state.
If you look at Ford's work close
up, you'll see that each design ele-
ment features a hidden gecko,
Texas' lovable, bug-eating lizard.
Ford's work can be seen in the
Harlingen area at Palm Cord Dr.
and U.S. 83, at Dixieland and U.S.
83 and at Spur 54 and U.S. 77. The
designer also created a concrete
prickly pear pad in a retaining
wall near SeaWorld in San Anto-
nio and a gargoyle for Lubbock's
new East-West Freeway.
lawmakers with megaphones
The Capitol had only been in
use for a little more than 30 years
when lawmakers began to chafe at
a design problem.
Acoustics in the House of Rep-
resentatives were terrible. No
matter how much air some legisla-
tor put into his rhetoric, voices
just did not carry well in the large
chamber.
During the regular session in
early 1919, someone suggested a
solution: Buy some megaphones
for members.
No action seems to have been
taken on the proposal, however. In
time, of course, the state installed
an electronic amplification sys-
tem. Modern lawmakers learned
to turn away from their micro-
phone if they want to say some-
thing to a colleague in private.
Solving the Uninsured Crisis
A Guest Editorial by Jeff Clark
THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU has issued a report
telling us what we already knew—the number of
Americans without health insurance continues to
rise, and Texans are at the top of the list. In fact,
Texas has the greatest percentage of uninsured resi-
dents in the nation. This health-care crisis is in-
creasing the cost of insurance for all Texans and
driving governmental health care-expenditures
higher every year. We must address the lack of af-
fordable health-insurance options and our govern-
ment's rising health-care costs or the health of
Texans and our economy will be in peril.
In our nation, most of us acquire health insurance
as a benefit offered by our employer. To help solve
the crisis of the uninsured, we should find a way for
employers to offer health care that is accessible and
affordable, particularly for small-business owners
who employ more people than any other sector of the
economy.
The insurance market is ignoring the needs of
small employers, placing their desire for profits over
the needs ofworkingpeople. Despite the fact that to-
tal profits for health insurers increased 25 percent in
2001, in a recent survey nine out of 10 small busi-
nesses reported dramatic hikes in their health-care
premiums.
The small-businesS community is working night
and day to convince the U.S. Senate that the best way
to give small-business owners accessible and afford-
able health care is through a program known as "As-
sociation Health Plans" (AHPs). AHPs, which
passed the U.S. House earlier this summer, would al-
low small-business owners to band together across
state lines through their membership in bona-fide
associations like NFIB to purchase health
insurance.
By using their collective strength to generate vol-
ume discounts, insurance would become affordable
for more small businesses thereby helping to reduce
the ranks of the
uninsured. According to the Congressional Bud-
get Office (CBO), AHPs would save small-business
owners and their employees as much as 25 percent on
their health insurance.
It's common sense to Main Street, but AHPs are
facing tough opposition in the Senate where power-
ful special interests are fighting to keep insurance
expensive and their profits high.
President George W Bush supports AHPs and
would be more than happy to sign legislation making
AHPs a reality, but the Senate needs to move this im-
portant legislation along. NFIB's members and the
millions of Americans they employ are counting on
them to come through on this issue, so that next year
when the Census Bureau reports again, we can
proudly report progress in addressing this
health-care crisis.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Jeff Clark is the NFIB/Texas executive
director for the National Federation of Independent
Business (NFIB), the nation's largest small-business
advocacy group., A nonprofit, nonpartisan organiza tion
founded in 1943, NFIB represents the consensus views
of its 35,000 members in Texas and 600,000 members in
Washington and all 50 state capitals. More information
is available on-line at www.nfib.com/TX.
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Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 41, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 9, 2003, newspaper, October 9, 2003; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth220599/m1/3/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.