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WAXAHACHIE DAILY LIGHT | PAGE 3
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Neal White Editor/ General Manager
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TRA decision step in right direction The Trinity River Authority recently sent the below memo to Ellis County Commissioner Paul Perry announcing it would no longer be placing its sewage sludge on Ellis County farmland. Instead, sewage sludge from its wastewater treatment facilities will be trucked to landfills. The announcement comes as welcome relief to Ellis County residents who have been leading the charge to stop the practice in the county — especially near residential areas. Without question, Commissioner Perry has taken the lead role in addressing those concerns at both the regional and state level. Under current Texas law, the practice of dumping sewage sludge is permitted by any company with a Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) permit. For at least the past two years, the TRA has contracted with Renda Environmental, which has subcontracted with Ellis County farmers to deposit the sewage sludge on their land — in many incidences, farmland adjacent to residential neighborhoods. Below is the TRA statement from General Manager J. Kevin Ward sent to Commissioner Perry: “The Executive Committee of the Trinity River Authority met in Arlington (Nov. 6) at a posted open meeting of the Committee and approved a two year contract for hauling all of the sludge produced at our Central Regional Wastewater System Treatment Plant to area landfills. I have no authority to make any representations of what TRA will or won’t do in the future, as we will continue to look for ways for reclamation of clean water and beneficial biosolids through improvement of the processing and recycling of waste streams we treat. You and I have discussed the prospect of advance sludge treatment that would produce sterile biosolids suitable for fertilizer production and other uses. Since that project will not be built for a few years, we remain committed to protecting the environment and maintaining compliance with all laws and regulations related to our permitted activities with the treatment processes currently in place. For the next two years, we are contracted to dispose of our biosolids in landfills. ... “Thank you for your patience in the past months as TRA attempted to respond to your concerns expressed on behalf of your constituents.” The TRA’s decision is certainly a step in the right direction, but it provides no guarantee the practice will not resume in the future. We applaud and sincerely appreciate Commissioner Perry’s work on this matter, as well as the efforts that have been made by State Representative-elect John Wray, who has been working with Commissioner Perry to find short- and long-term solutions. While TRA’s announcement can be viewed as a victory, the problems associated with sewage sludge dumping are far from over. This is an issue we sincerely hope the State Legislature will address in next year’s session.
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commentary
My mom’s success I
set out to write an obituary about my mother, who died Nov. 15, and was taken aback by how much she never accomplished in her 94 years. At least that’s how it seemed when her life was viewed in contrast with that of my betterknown dad, Allen Funt, who invented “Candid Camera” and whose numerous accomplishments have been well documented. Evelyn Funt never graduated from college, because she couldn’t afford the tuition at Northwestern University and too often found herself falling asleep on the bus heading to and from evening classes after working all day to support her family in Chicago. Yet, her quest for knowledge was remarkable. At age six she showed up in an elementary school classroom despite having been told Syndicated Columnist she was too young to attend - and somehow persuaded the teacher to let her stay. Learning became a passion. She read more books and newspapers, completed more crossword puzzles, visited more museums and attended more scholarly lectures than anyone I know. Her first significant job, at the Chicago American newspaper, was doomed from the start. She was hired during World War II with the understanding that whenever the man she had replaced returned from military service, she would step aside - no matter how accomplished her work - and give him his job back. She was a skilled painter, who never took an art lesson. She was a talented writer, who was
Peter Funt
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never published. She was a spiritual person with little interest in organized religion. She was a volunteer for numerous worthy causes, yet her name never appeared on lists of philanthropists. Mom was a progressive thinker and gave her time to campaign for local politicians, but she was willing to lick envelopes and knock on doors. She didn’t give speeches. During 18 years of marriage she lived in the shadow of my famous father. She put personal aspirations aside to raise three kids and support whatever dad was doing. It is fashionable nowadays to define successful women by relatively new standards involving achievements in business, politics, sports and things often lumped together as feminism. My mother was measured by the metrics of a different era. Mom wasn’t a lot of things, but she was this: the nicest person I’ve ever met. I don’t recall her doing a single mean-spirited thing in her life. Ever. She was fond of a passage attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson (although the credit is not entirely clear) called “Success.” It says, in part: “To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons...to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others.” And, most of all: “...to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition.” Perhaps in those words you see some of your mother. And, like me as I consider the life of Evelyn Funt, you conclude: Oh, my. My mom accomplished so much! Peter Funt is a writer and speaker. His book, “Cautiously Optimistic,” is available at Amazon.com and CandidCamera.com.
commentary
Internet gambling ban a losing bet
M
ost Americans, regardless of ideology, oppose “crony capitalism” or “cronyism.” Cronyism is where politicians write laws aimed at helping their favored business beneficiaries. Despite public opposition to cronyism, politicians still seek to use the legislative process to help special interests. For example, Congress may soon vote on legislation outlawing Internet gambling. It is an open secret, at least inside the Beltway, that this legislation is being considered as a favor to billionaire casino owner, Sheldon Adelson. Mr. Adelson, who is perhaps best known for using his enormous wealth to advance a pro-war foreign policy, is now using his political influence to turn his online competitors into criminals. Supporters of an Internet gambling ban Syndicated Columnist publicly deny they are motivated by a desire to curry favor with a wealthy donor. Instead, they give a number of high-minded reasons for wanting to ban this activity. Some claim that legalizing online gambling will enrich criminals and even terrorists! But criminalizing online casinos will not eliminate the demand for online casinos. Instead, passage of this legislation will likely guarantee that the online gambling market is controlled by criminals. Thus, it is those who support outlawing online gambling who may be aiding criminals and terrorists. A federal online gambling ban would overturn laws in three states that allow online gambling. It would also end the ongoing debate over legal-
Ron Paul
izing online gambling in many other states. Yet some have claimed that Congress must pass this law in order to protect states rights! Their argument is that citizens of states that ban Internet gambling may easily get around those laws by accessing online casinos operating in states where online gambling is legalized. Even if the argument had merit that allowing states to legalize online gambling undermines laws in other states, it would not justify federal legislation on the issue. Nowhere in the Constitution is the federal government given any authority to regulate activities such as online gambling. Arguing that “states rights” justifies creating new federal crimes turns the Tenth Amendment, which was intended to limit federal power, on its head. Many supporters of an Internet gambling ban sincerely believe that gambling is an immoral and destructive activity that should be outlawed. However, the proposed legislation is not at all about the morality of gambling. It is about whether Americans who do gamble should have the choice to do so online, or be forced to visit brick-and-mortar casinos. Even if there was some moral distinction between gambling online or in a physical casino, prohibiting behavior that does not involve force or fraud has no place in a free society. It is no more appropriate for gambling opponents to use force to stop people from playing poker online than it would be for me to use force to stop people from reading pro-war, neocon writers. Giving government new powers over the Internet to prevent online gambling will inevitably threaten all of our liberties. Government bureaucrats will use this new authority to See Paul, Page 12