The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 42, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 21, 2010 Page: 2 of 44
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THURSDAY 21 DCTDBERZaiD
THE CANADIAN RECORD
lasting our resolve
By Laurie Ezzeli Brown
RECORD
ESTABLISHED 1833
INCORPORATED FEBRUARYI99B
PD Box B9B, Canadian, TX 79UI4
Phane: 3DB.3Z3.B4BI
Fax: BDB.3Z3.573B
BEN EZZELL Publisher/Editor
Publisher 1348-1903
NANCY EZZELL, Publisher
LAURIE EZZELL BROWN
Editor S/PublishEr
editor@canadianrRCDrd.com
MARY SMITHEE Business Manager
mary@canadianrecard.cam
ADVERTISING Hnlly Henderson
Jaquita Adcock
advartising@canadianrecDrd.ccim
NEWS/FEATURES
Cathy Ricketts, Julia Schafer
news@canadianrecDrd.com
SPURTS Jasnn Turner
jasDnlUcanadianrecDrd.cDm
DESIGNS PRODUCTION
Laurie Brown, Cathy Ricketts,
Holly Henderson, Jason Turner
PHOTOGRAPHY
Laurie Brown, Jason Turner
Cathy Ricketts, Alan Hale
CONTRIBUTORS: Mary Jane McKinney.
Bob Rogers, Ruth Beasley,
Robin Mitchell
USPS 087-950
Periodicals postage paid at the Post
Office in Canadian (Hemphill County),
TX. Published weekly in Canadian by
Nancy M.Ezzell
POSTMASTER: Send address changes
to The Canadian Record, PO Box 838,
Canadian, TX 73014
SUBSCRIPTIONS:
S30/S3E/S42 Annually
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RECORD
and the Ezzeli Family
WINNERS OF THE
2DD7 Gish Award
FOR COURAGE, TENACITY 8 INTEGRITY
IN COMMUNITY JOURNALISM
A CASE BEFORE the U.S. Supreme Court
tests this nation's resolve to protect free
speech—even that speech which we find most
despicable. When in 2006, our own favorite
son was killed in Iraq and brought home for
burial, this community was similarly tested.
We did not fail.
The case, Snyder v. Phelps, positions the
father of a Marine killed in Iraq against re-
ligious picketers who demonstrated at the
soldier's funeral with signs that read "God
hates fags" and "You're going to hell." Though
the Marine wasn't gay, the picketers say they
were carrying God's message to condemn
what they call "sodomite enablers."
The picketers, all members of the West-
boro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, and
their pastor Fred Phelps staged a demon-
stration at the Maryland funeral of Lance
Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.
They have picketed at hundreds of other mili-
tary funerals in recent years—including that
of Canadian's much-beloved Chief Warrant
Officer Miles Henderson—preaching their
message that the casualties of war are God's
punishment for society tolerating, and even
embracing, homosexuality.
When those same picketers arrived in
Hemphill County, they found an impermeable
wall of defense that formed around the fami-
ly—not just to protect them from that crude
and senseless message, but to show solidarity
with and support for the young soldier who
gave his life defending our freedoms, and for
all who give their lives in service to this coun-
try.
The wall did not move. It did not recipro-
cate that message of hate nor did it yield to it.
From beyond the required buffer zone
on Main Street across from the Courthouse,
the group of Kansas hate-mongers carry-
ing picket signs was swallowed up in a sea of
American flags and good-hearted people who
formed a barrier—both visual and auditory—
between the Westboro congregation's rant
and the more lasting message of unity, love
and gratitude for the Henderson family and
their sacrifice.
That is as it should be, and imparts a much
more enduring lesson of what we, as a commu-
nity and as a nation, value most.
We cannot let the speech we hate compro-
mise the freedoms we love and fight to protect.
Without them, we all are diminished.
Free speech can become toxic. Certainly
we have heard more than enough thoughtless
and venomous language in our current public
discourse. The most effective antidote to that
poison, though, is to turn away, to make our
own voices heard, and to turn our ears and
hearts and open minds toward those who
speak with reason and compassion and calm
conviction.
We do not need laws or court rulings to pro-
tect us from free speech. We need free speech
to protect us from the kind of ignorance and
hatred that thrive in a climate of oppression
and fear. The First Amendment-guaranteed
right to free speech is America's greatest
strength and should not be curtailed.
October 18-24: National
Freedom of Speech Week
"Congress 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."
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution
LETTERS
Honor our heroes
THIS SUNDAY MORNING I will be run-
ning in the Army 10 Miler in Washington, DC
in memory of Miles.
Even though entry fees go to help with the
Army Morale and Welfare fund, I would also
like to use this opportunity to raise funds for
our wounded. The scholarship fund here in
Miles' name is currently well funded and for
at least now, I would like to direct my efforts to
helping those men aned women who have been
wounded while serving our country. If you
would like to support me in this effort, please
go to the website www.honorheroes.org. This
is a site operated by an organization called Op-
eration Honor Our Heroes, based in Austin. It
was founded in memory of Mst. Sgt. Robert
Horrigan who trained here in Canadian be-
fore giving his life in Iraq. This organization
does wonderful things for our wounded vets
that the VA is not able to supply. 100% of all
donations go to helping the vets. All admin
costs are donated by folks giving their time.
If you feel led to help in this way, you can
donate directly at the website www.honor-
heroes.org or you can send a check to me at
15369 Co Rd U, Canadian, TX 79014, made out
to Operation Honor Our Heroes and I will for-
ward it on to them.
Thanks everyone. We couldn't make it
without your loving support!
No Worries!!
TERRY HENDERSON
The people's
lawyer
By Laurie Ezzeli Brown
TEXANS HAVE ONE SIMPLE choice to make on No-
vember 2: whether they want to elect an attorney who
will protect the public's interests or re-elect one who has
consistently opted to protect the interests of his wealthy
donors —sometimes at great cost and potential hazard
to the citizens of this state.
In her campaign for Texas Attorney General, Bar-
bara Ann Radnofsky has demonstrated not only her
wonkish legal brilliance but her willingness to fight for
the people's interests, her remarkable ability to wage
that battle tirelessly and effectively and her dedication
to reforming the Attorney General's office should she
win. Given the current political atmosphere in Texas, a
victory is unlikely, but the quixotic quality of her cam-
paign has in no way affected Radnofsky's single-minded
commitment to the task.
In a series of reports released to the public,
Radnofsky has methodically exposed Attorney General
Greg Abbott's failure to protect the people's interests
and his troubling tendency to squander the considerable
resources of his office on high-profile lawsuits that are
both wrong-headed and unwinnable.
For example, following British Petroleum's monu-
mental Gulf disaster, Abbott threatened to sue the fed-
eral government for imposing a temporary moratorium
on off-shore drilling, rather than suing BP for the eco-
logical and environmental disaster that resulted, and for
the more than $620 million in economic damages that
the subsequent drilling moratorium caused in this state
alone.
While the federal government makes a popular tar-
get in Texas and elsewhere these days, the threatened
lawsuit is pointless showboating and does little to ad-
dress the harm already done to this state's residents.
The moratorium will end on November 30, but the im-
pact of economic losses from an environmental disaster
that occurred as a result of BP's gross negligence will
last far longer. Abbott has received over $2 million in
campaign contributions from oil and gas employees and
PACs since 1992.
Radnofsky has also laid bare the possible monetary
motivation behind many of Abbott's failures,
revealing a list of Abbott's donors whose generous
contributions have been amply repaid by his office's
intervention on their behalf—not ours. Among those
donors:
Waste Control Specialists, which operates a haz-
ardous waste dump in Andrews County, and its parent
company, Valhi, Inc., whose executives and investors
have donated more than $400,000 to Abbott. In return,
Abbott is providing legal counsel to Texas' Low-Level
Radioactive: Waste Disposal Compact Commission
(TLLRWDCC) in public hearings. Earlier this year,
this eight-member Commission—six of whom were ap-
pointed by Governor Perry—proposed a new rule that
would allow Waste Control Specialists to accept radio-
active waste from not only Vermont and Texas, as the
compact required, but from twenty-six other states as
well. The rule was withdrawn in the face of public out-
cry, but the Commission is still expected to propose a
similar rule later this year.
THE PEOPLE'S LAWYER-CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
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Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 42, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 21, 2010, newspaper, October 21, 2010; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth220862/m1/2/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.