Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 140, Ed. 1 Tuesday, April 26, 2011 Page: 4 of 10
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Viewpoints
Page 4 ■ Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Sweetwater Reporter
DEDICATED TO PROUDLYDEUVERIN® LOCAL NEWS SI NTH 1881
T—\ Sweetwatei A
Reporter
1EMBER
| * 1 2010
P.O. Box 750/112 W. Third
TEXAS PRESS
Sweetwater, Texas 79556
ASSOCIATION
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EDITORIAL POLICY
The editorial section of the newspaper is a forum for
expression of a variety of viewpoints. All articles except
those labeled "Editorials" reflect the opinions of the writ-
ers and not those of the Sweetwater Reporter.
GUEST COLUMN
Trump,
Birthers and
the Truth
Is Donald Trump a closet Obama supporter? That's the
only logical conclusion to draw from the Donald's recent
foray into presidential politics. If he keeps up his kooky
bid for the GOP nomination, he'll damage the part} and
its chances to win 3 White House
in 2012. And if he's seriously consid-
ering running as an Independent —
as he's hinted he would if he fails to
win the Republican nomination — he
virtually guarantees Barack Obama's
re-election.
Trump maybe entertaining — mil-
lions of fans of his reality televi-
sion shows seem to think so, though
the appeal eludes me. But it's one
thing for Trump to play rich bull)?
ither to use his
llnda
Chavez
for ratings and anot
celebrity status to peddle wacky con-
spiracy theories that harm political
discourse.
Trump single-handedly has given
the "birther" issue new legs. In an
advertisement this week in USA
Today, Trump asks Obama "to be transparent with the
American people and provide his birth certificate for
forensic review."
"Birthers" — and Trump seems to have joined their
ranks — claim that Obama is not eligible to be president
because he isn't a "natural born citizen" as required by
Article II of the Constitution. They base their theories on
the false charge that )bama has never produced a valid
copy of his birth certificate and therefore must be hiding
something, namely that he was born someplace other
than Hawaii, as he maintains.
During the 2008 election, people sometimes sent me
newspaper articles that "provec Obama was bom in
Kenya. When I'd point out the fake dateline or incorrect
style headings attributed to the Associated Press or other
newswires and numerous misspellings and grammatical
eiTors that even a high school editor would have caught,
they'd just send me more "evidence." I soon found that
there's no convincing people whose ideas are based on
hatred, not facts.
The facts are these: Obama produced a valid copy of his
Hawaiian certificate of live birth before the 2008 elec-
tion. The document—with its proper, three-dimensional
seal and attestation by the state registrar that it is "a true
copy and abstract of the records on file" clearly visible —
is readily available for viewing online at FactCheck.org,
among other places.
Certificate No. 151 1961-010641 issued by "The
Department of Health, Hawaii, USA" says that a male
child named Barack Hussein Obama II was born on
Aug. 4,1961, in Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, at 7:24
p.m. The mother's maiden name, Stanley Ann Dunham,
and race, Caucasian, are listed; as are the father's name,
Barack Hussein Obama, and race, African. The paper on
which the document is printed — again easily discernible
online — is the type of special watermarked government
stock that makes forgery difficult.
3o why does Trump persist in spreading the false
allegation that the president has never produced a valid
copy of his birth certificate? It's hard to believe that a
man smart enough to have accumulated an estimated $3
billion in wealth could be dumb enough to fall prey to the
birthers' lies. He's doing it for the same reason @ does
most things - to draw attention to himself.
In the world of reality television, there 111; be no such
thing as bad publicity. But politics follows different rules.
Trump leads the pack of mostly little-known Republican
candidates in some polls. But his standing reflects name
recognition, not political viability. And his chicanery is
managing to suck all the oxygen out of the room for seri-
ous Repul ican candidates — the best of whom have held
elective office, balanced state budgets, run businesses
hat didn't end up in Chapter 11, and whose personal
lives haven't been perpetual fodder for the tabloids.
As any smart businessperson knows, brand integrity
is crucial. If you sully the brand, n< one will buy what
you're selling. And right now, Donald Trump is ruining
the Republican bran f he truly believes we need a new
president in 2012, he'll bow out early and leave the field
to those who'll ran on serious ideas and real solutions,
not thoroughly discredited conspiracy theories.
Linda Chavez is the author of "An Unlikely
Conservative: The Transformation of an Ex-Liberal."
To find out more about Linda Chavez, visit the Creators
Syndicate web page at wwiv.creators.ccmi.
THE GREEN TEAM
All of the heroic firemen
First of all, I would
like to personally thank
all of the firemen in the
Big Country area for their
truly heroic efforts not just
in the last few weeks but
for all the time that I have
lived in West Texas. Our
fire departments in the
Big Country, both
Eaid and volunteer
ave always given
their all any time
they are needed.
I can remember
living in the coun-
try before the age
of cell phones and
anything that even
remoti y resem-
bled a 911 system.
The town where
I grew up would
call the volunteer
firemen's homes
and sound an audible
alarm that could be heard
throughout the town and
into the countryside. They
even had a pattern to the
alarm that it everybody
know if it was a house
fire or a grass fire. While
I was growing up protect-
ed by those firemen, four
of them gave their lives
responding to and fight-
ing fires in our commu-
nity. So again, a sincere
thank you to firefighters
everywhere.
I attend a lot of work-
shops and seminars, and
something that occasion-
ally comes up is a class
or talk on landscaping to
reduce the risk of fire. In
the past I haven't paid a
lot of attention to these
classes, but n the future,
I think I will take a closer
look at this information.
Since we are having
a lot of fires and I can't
imagine that there are any
Big Country adults right
now that cfon't have our
local fires on their mind
right now I thought that
I would address some of
the effects of fire on trees
THE UNKNOWN SOLDIERS
While listening to the
haunting bagpipes of
"Amazing Grace" during
an April 9 memorial ser-
vice honoring Pfc. Jeremy
Faulkner in Jonesboro,
Ga., I realized I had no
idea what the 1779 song's
famous lyrics, written by
John Newton, actually
meant. Faulkner's pastor,
family, friends and fellow
soldiers, who filled the
huge church to capacity,
helped clarify the beloved
hymn's resonance.
"With a hail of fire all
around him, Jeremy saw
amazing grace," Rev. Ron
Little said
On March 29, Faulkner,
23, was one of six Task
Force No Slack warriors of
the storied 101st Airborne
Division (Air Assault) to
die fighting for our coun-
try in Afghanistan's Kunar
province. Also killed
were Sgt. 1st Class Ofren
Arrechaga, 28; Staff Sgt.
Frank Adamski III, 26;
Staff Sgt. Bryan Burgess,
29; Spc. Dustin Feldhaus,
20; and Spc. Jameson
Lindskog, 23.
"Our enemy had grown
too large, too bold, too
capable to ignore any lon-
ger," Lt. Col. Joel Vowell,
Task Force No Slack com-
mander, told grieving sol-
diers in a dramatic eastern
Afghanistan speech deliv-
ered the same day one of
their own was laid to rest
in Georgia. "Task Force
No Slack met that chal-
lenge, and we destroyed
and killed over 130 insur-
gent fighters and wounded
scores of others in our big-
gest battle since Vietnam."
As I learned at Tara
Baptist Church, Faulkner
began training for his
defining moment as a little
boy.
"Little Jeremy used to
play Army in the yard,"
Little said, prompting rare
smiles from the devastated
audience.
Tony Berry, Faulkner's
stepfather, knew "Remy,"
as many loved ones and
buddies called him, since
the future soldier was 11.
"He was one of those
Bruce
KreiUer
and growing conditions
for trees.
First, one thing that we
humans have done is try
to exclude fire from our
lands. Before this area
became settled land, range
fires were a frequent event
and as much a part of the
local ecology as
rain.
I'm not saying
that the exclusion
of fire has beer a
bad thing, after all,
if your crops, ani-
mals, buil dings,
or other proper-
ty is going up in
smoke, or about
to, I think that we
can all agree that
something should
be done to pre-
vent that. What I
am saying about our need
to suppress fires is that
good or bad, it is a change
from how our eco-system
evolved, since eliminat-
ing or greatly reducing
fires alters our open range
growing conditions qui e
a bit, I have to wonder
wha hi Jig ountry
would look like if fire was
used more frequently as a
range management tool.
The effect that a fire will
have on trees depends
greatly on two things.
These two things are what
type of tree we are talk-
ing about and how hot the
fire was. Some types of
trees have thicker bark,
extensive root systems,
and if they grow in groups
like live oaks, will have
excluded most grasses
from beneath their cano-
pies because of the dense
shade they cast. These
trees are going to stand
a normal grass fire that
basically 1 lrns around
them, and singes the edges
a little bit. A few years
after this type of fire has
passed through, or more
realistically, around, a live
oak mott, even somebody
like myself is not going
to be able to tell that it
happened. After all, if you
think about it a few min-
utes, it doesn't take long
to figure out that a live oak
or any tree that has lived
in the Big Country area or
any part of West Texas for
a hundred years or so, has
had to survive some range
fires.
One of the things that
makes fire so difficult to
control in our area is the
mountain cedars (actually
ash junipers) and other
junipen that we locally
just call cedars. These
trees do grow thickly
together, and will exclude
grasses, but the problem
is, under dry conditions,
they burn well. Unlike
the oak trees, and even
mesquites, that don't burn
very well if they are alive,
cedars are thick, low to
the ground, and as I said ,
they can make good fuel
for a fire. This causes a big
problem when fire comes
through. When thick
cedar stands burn, they
make a very hot fire that
can kill off pretty much
everything mixed in with
them because of the extra
intensity of the flames and
heat caused by the cedar
burning so strongly. Even
if these cedars or any other
abundant fuel don't actu-
ally catch other trees on
fire, there is a good chance
that the since :hey burn
much longer than grass,
the soil wil be heated up
to a root killing tempera-
ture. While a urned off
or partially burned tree
canopy is a very visible
sign of fire damage, very
c en the worst damage
suffered by trees in fires is
to their roots.
While most of us are
familiar with stands of
mesquites and other trees
that have been burned
and recovered over a few
years, my personal obser-
vation is that the stands
that regenerate are almost
always the ones where
there is distance and grass
between the trees. I'm
afraid that one result of
all of these large fires is
going to be further ingress
by thickets of cedar that
usually re-colonize land
faster after a fire than
other more desirable trees
or plants. Actually, in the
case of mesquites versus
cedar, maybe a better way
to put it would be trees
that are not quite as unde-
sirable as "cedars".
All of this lane that
has been burned off does
give the landowners an
opportunity to deal with
the young plants that re-
sprout or the few older
undesirables that survive,
but I think it is going to
be hard for people that
have just had to endure
these fires to muster the
resources to take advan-
tage of the opportunity.
Maybe with a little luck
at least the prickh pear
in these areas will be
destroyed or greatly set
back.
Once again, I wish to
give my personal thanks
and appreciation to all
firefighters in general and
the Big Country firefight-
ers in particular.
The next KWKC Green
Team Workshop Sod,
Seeds, and trees wil, be
held at 2 P.M. Saturday,
April 30th at Willow Creek
Gardens, 1820 South
Treadaway, in Abilene.
If you have any land-
scaping, landscape main-
tenance, or free questions
you would like answered
in this column, submit
them care of editor@
sweetwaterreporter.com
or info@BrokenWillow.
com.
Amazing Grace
types of kids that made
you mad one minute, but
the next, he'd have you
laughing," Berry told The
Unknown Soldiers. "He
loved being outside and
camping, so he adjusted to
Army life real quick."
Like so many U.S. troops,
Faulkner developed an
unbreakable attachment
to his brothers and sis-
ters in arms. Berry said
he spoke to three soldiers
from his stepson's unit at
the memorial service.
"It's a bond that we can
never know, unless you've
been over there to share in
it with those guys," Berry
explained. "When one
passes, the other one feels
guilty, and they wish it was
them."
Quotes from warriors
who went into the fire with
Faulkner on that treach-
erous day in Afghanistan
were re; aloud at the ser-
vice.
"He was a very special
person in my life," one
mourning soldier said.
"He could make everyone
laugh and smile, even in
the worst situations."
It doesn't get much worse
than the ferocious battle
that killed Faulkner and
five fellow comrades and
left many more wounded.
Many casualties of those
chaotic moments were just
weeks from finishing their
Afghanistan deployments.
"It's quite a shock to us,"
Berry said. "Being that
close to coming home is
just tragic."
In one of the service's
most poignant moments,
the fallen hero's mother,
Judy Berry, and father,
Joel Faulkner, were pre-
sented the Bronze Star and
Purple Heart, awarded to
their son posthumously.
The momentous events
of March 29 in eastern
Afghanistan received
nowhere near the level of
deserved attention from
the national media. For
too long, the public has
languished in the darkness
during the daily victories
and struggles of America's
post-9/11 conflicts, which
Spc. Brit Jacobs of Task Force No Slack bids farewell to
six fellow soldiers, including Pfc. Jeremy Faulkner, at
an April 9 memorial service in eastern Afghanistan.
Image courtesy: Sgt. 1st Glass Mark Burrell
marks a great injustice to
those who serve and sac-
rifice.
"Our job is not over after
today," Little reminded
mourners at the service's
conclusion.
Families of the fallen, as
well as those wounded or
suffering from the incal-
culable psychological toll
of war, need more than
our sympathy. They need
— and merit — our con-
stant focus.
"It is foolish and wrong
to mourn the men who
died," said renowned
tough-as-nails Gen. George
S. Patton, whose quote was
read aloud at the service.
"Rather, we should thank
God that such men lived."
The grace shown by Pfc.
Jeremy P. Faulkner and
his fellow troops, who vol-
unteered to serve during
a time of genuine peril, is
truly amazing.
"I'm going," the brave
soldier said before heading
off to war. "But if the worst
happens, I know where I'm
going."
Was blind, but now I
see.
To find out more about
Tom Sileo, or to read fea-
tures by other Creators
Syndicate writers and car-
toonists, visit the Creators
Syndicate website at
www.creators.com.
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Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 140, Ed. 1 Tuesday, April 26, 2011, newspaper, April 26, 2011; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth229456/m1/4/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.