www.MyCounty-Line.com --- JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
Big Country Ce ntr al Texas E d i t i o n
Volume 7 Issue 76
National News and Opinions mixed with Local Small Town History and Story Telling. Representing the Small-Town Conservative Viewpoint, Values & Patriotism!
~Mike Norris, Owner & Publisher
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
Monthly Issue
JANUARY/FEBRUARY , In This Issue:
On The Cover Growing Up Small Town Texas Conservative Michael Ramirez Home Is Where the Heart Is Tumbleweed Smith Good Neighbors Treasure Hunters Love Lessons Huddle Up! Breckenridge Wall Distribution Map Cisco Loboes Territory Welcome to Rising Star This Week In Texas History B.C. The Wizard of ID In Sickness & In Health
2014
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www.MyCounty-Line.com vol.7 Issue 76
Wendy Russell Davis
The County Line
Democrat Candidate for Texas Governor
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design
If you’re like me, you had never heard of Texas State Senator Wendy Davis; that is until she found herself on the national political stage after she waged an eleven hour filibuster last June against Texas’ new abortion regulations.
PO Box 1156 Eastland, Texas 76448 Phone: (254)433-2693 mike@mycounty-line.com
Her efforts garnered national praise from leftleaning, abortion supporters and in October she announced her plans to run for the governor’s office. If you read a little about her bio, you might think that she would be an excellent candidate -- she worked her way through college while being a single mother; all the way from Tarrant County Junior College through Texas Christian University. She then went on to attend the University of Texas School of Law and finally Harvard.
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www.MyCounty-Line.com Texas Senator Wendy Davis ~wikipedia.com
If education credentials mean anything they at least indicate dedication and commitment. Unfortunately, at some point along Davis’ career, her commitment to hard work and sacrifice became polluted with the Liberal “you owe me something” mentality. I say that based on the results of her very first campaign to hold political office -- Fort Worth city council, 1996. She lost the race and rather than accept defeat and move on, she took a hard left turn and sued the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the American Broadcasting Company and their parent company, Disney. Davis claimed that the biased coverage of the race by those media outlets led to her defeat and caused her personal, physical and mental injuries. What a crock of Liberal entitlement bunk! It could never be that she simply could not earn enough votes, there must have been some huge agenda by the corporate media working against her?!?! She lost the election and then she lost the lawsuit. It would appear to me that she was just as much a failure at being a lawyer as she was at being a politician. However; three years later she tried for a seat on the city council again and that time she pulled out a win. She held the city council seat for about nine years before she set her sights on the Texas State Senate. She was elected to the Texas State Senate in 2008 and if she had not stirred up the national abortion-rights activists, she would still happily be sitting in the shadows doing her Texas Senate, District 10 duties...and the rest of us wouldn’t have any reason to dig into her past or get to know her better!
COVER ART:
West Texas Sunset - Albany, Texas. Photo by mwnorris.
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All. B:510-152550100200
My opinion (which I am entitled to and Constitutionally protected in sharing) is that Wendy Davis is a one-trick pony. She’s not seeking the office of governor out of a self-driven pursuit of serving her fellow Texans. Her shot at the governorship is being driven solely by the Liberal agenda of picking the celebrity political flavor of the month and throwing enough money at the election to make a media blitz assault at taking the office. It is nothing more than a pure political celebrity “oh vote for me! vote for me!” shot in the dark. Davis’ only claim to state-wide recognition has come from her support and stance on abortion. Her campaign is strongly trying to shift the focus from the abortion issue to education and education funding in Texas. But her education platform is nothing more than a shopping list of wishful thinking without a single concrete solution to balancing the funding equation.
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Abilene Albany Baird Breckenridge Brownwood Carbon Cisco Comanche Cross Plains Dallas DeLeon Desdemona Dublin Eastland El Paso Ft. Worth Gordon Gorman Irving Olden Lingleville Lubbock Ranger Rising Star Stephenville Strawn Thurber Weatherford Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma & Georgia
We appreciate your support! Mike &rris Ruth No
Davis’ campaign is nothing more than political theater attempting to take advantage of Davis’ fifteen minutes of political fame so as to swing the Texas governorship to the Left. Straight out of the Liberal playbook. C:255075150300 ~mwnorris Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
3Growing Up Small Town
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, Mike W. Norris
by Mike W. Norris Wendy Davis Follow-Up
Howdy County Line Readers! I was one of the first opinion writers to get in my shots at Wendy Davis...but since I wrote the cover story article about her impressive biography, she has managed to make national news again because the details of her bio are just a hair off the mark! I’m shocked! Not. So in the last few days, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and several news outlets around Texas, have picked up on the questionable accuracy of the Texas Governor Democratic candidate’s biography. Rather than Davis’ original bio indicating that she worked her way through college while being a single mother, the fact is that she was married while attending college and that her husband was basically footing the bill for her education. It’s also interesting that she divorced her husband shortly after he made the final installment payment on her high-priced education and in the divorce she gave up custody of her daughter to her ex-husband. It’s been said in the media that Davis has been quoted as saying that motherhood interfered with her professional and political ambitions at that exact moment in her life. All I can say at this point is, “Wow. You Dems sure can pick ‘em.” Local Competitor Steps Up Their Game
I want to go on record and congratulate the Eastland Telegram, aka Eastland County Newspapers, aka EastlandCountyToday.com for really stepping up their game with their new all-in-one publication. The staff down there have combined all of their “local” newspapers into a single “package” and have brought color to their publication with some real success. I am a fan. Good job, HV & crew. I guess now I have to do something interesting as well....hmmm.
were snuggled up in the little red 4-door Nissan truck. The bed was packed level-full with our camping gear; including tent, bedding, sleeping bags, cooking utensils, propane lanterns and cook stove, spare tarps, tie-down straps, bungie cords, flashlights, food, coolers of ice and drinking water... the whole nine yards! We made our way into New Mexico and spent the night sleeping in the truck at a roadside picnic area. After a couple hours of sleep we woke to a beautiful sunrise behind us as we found our way into Albuquerque. We spent our Saturday morning sightseeing around Albuquerque and then headed up to Taos in the afternoon. Along the way we eventually found our camping destination....which for the life of me I can’t remember which state park it was?!?! By the time we arrived, the place was completely deserted and with only about an hour of daylight left we went straight to work setting up our camp. I couldn’t believe that we were the only people in the park.....I guess winter tent camping isn’t very popular?!?! Since we had been on the road for the last 24hrs,
as soon as we finished fixing supper we called it a night and hit the sleeping bags. At this point I should remind everyone that this was before the time of smart phones and mobile internet everywhere...in fact...the cellphone that we did have didn’t have any signal up in the mountains anyway! So we were taken by surprise when we woke up around midnight to winds blowing so hard that the tent was laying down on us and its flexible carbon fiber tent poles were bending and flexing as far as possible without snapping. We had chosen a camp site with a covered picnic table -- the table was sitting on a concrete pad which had a threewall structure around it with an angled roof on top. The entire structure was formed out of angle-iron, rectangular steel tubing, and tin metal roofing for walls and roof. The table was not bolted in place to the concrete pad, so Ruth and I moved the table out from under the structure and we pulled all the stakes holding the tent to the ground. While Sherrie slept in the truck, Ruth and I fought the wind and drug our tent onto the concrete pad under the shelter. While all this was going on, it started snowing...some of the biggest snow flakes I have ever seen! This was truly a good-thing, badContinued on page 11...
Birthday Camping Trip Fiasco
Well, we almost got a little bit of snow this past week. Unfortunately (for me) the snow missed us completely and instead of getting a little dusting of the wintery white stuff all we got was icy cold temperatures and some seriously heinous wind chill factors. Oh well, I’m sure most folks are OK with that since they would rather not have to deal with the hazards of winter driving. But for me, myself and I, we LOVE snowy winter time and in years passed, Ruthie, Sherrie and I would go on a late-January camping trip for my birthday. It was a way for us to enjoy a weekend away from home and possibly track down some cooler weather -- and hopefully see some snow! A few years back, we took such a trip into New Mexico where there was about a foot of snow on the ground under pristine, clear blue skies! This was before we got the Jeep, so the three of us Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
4Texas Conservative
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, Chuck Norris - The Man
In God We Trust United We Stand
By Chuck Norris
Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook’s “Official Chuck Norris Page.” He blogs at http://chucknorrisnews.blogspot.com. Obama Bullying Nuns
PolitiFact has crowned the promoter in chief’s sound bite for Obamacare the “Lie of the Year” for 2013: “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” And let me make a prediction that among his top 10 falsehood contenders for 2014 will be a reversal of what he emphatically stated back on Sept. 9, 2009: “Under our (health care reform) plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.” Indeed, just a few months later, he reiterated to ABC News: “I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill. And we’re not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions. And I want to make sure that the provision that emerges meets that test -- that we are not in some way sneaking in funding for abortions.” “Sneaking in funding for abortions,” this administration? Of course, we didn’t have to wait a year before we discovered that federal funds were in fact being funneled to provide for abortive services in Pennsylvania and New Mexico. Then the House and Senate, in secret Sunday sessions, passed an omnibus bill and its provision that overturned the 1988 Dornan amendment, which prevented taxpayer dollars from funding abortions in Washington, D.C. (Tragically, that omnibus bill also appropriated $648.5 million for international family planning funding -- an increase of $103 million over 2009 funding -- and contained funding for Planned Parenthood and for the United Nations Population Fund, both of which have pro-abortion agendas.) Of course, there have been many other underhanded pro-abortion moves by Barack Obama’s administration since then, right down to the present. In fact, last week, LifeSiteNews.com ran a piece by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., explaining abortion’s rapid growth and funding in and through Obamacare: “Rollout of the Obamacare exchanges reveals that many health insurance plans will subsidize abortion-ondemand. For example, the preliminary data suggests that every insurance plan on the Connecticut health care exchanges will pay for abortion-on-demand. In the most recent example, we learned that 103 of the 112 insurance plans for Members of Congress and congressional staff include elective abortion coverage. Only nine plans offered exclude elective abortion.” (You can go to http://chrissmith.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2013_1202_floor_flyer_on_member_hc_plans.pdf to view the flier about the nine plans.) It is clear that there are numerous Obamacare plans that include elective abortion and that billions of taxpayer dollars will be handed out as credits to buy abortioncovering health insurance -- a clear violation of the Hyde amendment’s fundamental principle of restricting funds to abortion-subsidizing health insurance plans. If Obamacare is to encompass the full measure of abortions, Obama knows that he and his cronies must first remove all the stops that prohibit federal funding for the termination of life in the womb. Legislatively, the Dornan amendment was their start. And they will continue to chip away at the Hyde amendment, which prohibits the same through the Labor and Health and Human Services departments -- for example, with Medicaid. Obama knows that if his pro-abortion agenda is to win the war on the womb, his administration must also oppose anti-abortion advocates, and chief among those warriors is the Roman Catholic Church. You know the White House isn’t dumb enough to confront papal power overtly -- yet that doesn’t stop it from chipping away at the anti-abortion wall by putting nuns and Catholic contraception views and values in its cross hairs. On New Year’s Eve, just one day before Obamacare’s mandate forced nonprofit companies and religion-affiliated institutions across the country to provide contraception and drugs that possibly induce abortions in their employee health care plans, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor blocked the requirement for a care facility for the elderly, run by Catholic nuns who appealed to the high court for help. As NPR explained, “churches and other houses of worship are exempt from the birth control requirement, but affiliated institutions that serve the general public are not. That includes charitable organizations, universities and hospitals.” In response to the nuns’ appeal, the Department of Justice placed the Little Sisters of the Poor in an ethical dilemma in which group members must violate their faith
or pay fines. The DOJ argued in legal papers filed last Friday that the nuns don’t have a leg to stand on. The Obama administration tried to explain that they don’t have to offer contraception and abortion-inducing drugs, as long as they sign a government form that delegates the action to a third party. Without signing that “self-certification” form, the nuns would incur steep government fines. But Mark Rienzi, who is senior counsel for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, responded on behalf of the nuns to the DOJ’s argument by retorting that government officials “are simply blind to the religious exercise at issue: the Little Sisters and other Applicants cannot execute the form because they cannot deputize a third party to sin on their behalf.” And where is President Obama -- the socalled constitutional lawyer living in our White House -- during the whole debate? Coming out to protect the Bill of Rights for the nuns as he has for a number of progressive minorities? No. He’s hiding behind the curtains in the Oval Office, manipulating his minions to follow his pro-abortion biddings. It is not known when Justice Sotomayor will rule on these ludicrous government actions and violations of the nuns’ personal religious liberty and practice. But one thing we do know is that the Founding Fathers are rolling in their graves right now regarding the government’s obliteration of our First Amendment religious rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” What an utter constitutional and leadership travesty it is that Obamacare’s promoter in chief repeatedly is breaking this promise: “Under our (health care reform) plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.” Seeing as our president won’t honor life in the womb, please write or call your representatives to let them know where you stand. Read and hand out my friend Randy Alcorn’s book “Why Pro-Life?” (http://www.epm.org). And then ensure your local community of faith is honoring Sanctity of Human Life Sunday on Jan. 20. The day commemorates the Jan. 22, 1973, Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision, which legalized abortion in our country. Since then, more than 55 million abortions have taken place in the U.S.
Obama Bullying Nuns (Part 2) Last week, I pointed out how PolitiFact crowned the promoter in chief’s sound bite for Obamacare the “Lie of the Year” for 2013: “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” I also made a prediction that among his top 10 falsehood contenders for 2014 will be a reversal of what he emphatically stated back on Sept. 9, 2009: “Under our (health care reform) plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.” I showed how President Barack Obama already has repeatedly broken that promise over the past few years. But a coup de grâce came when Obamacare mandated nonprofit companies and religion-affiliated institutions across the country to provide contraception and drugs that possibly induce abortions in their employee health care plans. As Fox News explained, “the policy is among the law’s most contentious provisions because it exempts churches that oppose contraception but requires religious-affiliated organizations, such as colleges or hospitals, to provide the coverage for their workers.” That is why, in 2012, a group of nuns -the Little Sisters of the Poor -- appealed to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor for help on behalf of their care facility for the elderly, because Obamacare was forcing them into an ethical dilemma in which they must violate their faith or pay fines. So on New Year’s Eve, just a day before the provision in Obamacare was to be forced upon them, Sotomayor blocked the requirement upon the nuns in order to look into the matter further. In response to the nuns’ appeal, the U.S. Department of Justice immediately argued in legal papers filed a couple of weeks ago that the nuns don’t have a leg to stand on. The Obama administration tried to explain that the nuns don’t have to offer contraception -- including abortioninducing drugs -- as long as they sign a government form that delegates the action to a third party. But for the nuns’ religious conviction, whether they offer the contraception or sign a waiver for another to do so is simply sin. Yet without signing that “self-certification” form, the nuns would incur steep government fines. Continued on page 11...
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5Michael Ramirez
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7Home Is Where the Heart Is
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, Monica Payne
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By Monica Payne Monica has home schooled all of her five children after making the switch from career educator to at-home family educator. You Might be a Homeschooler if...
“If our school calendar is tossed out the window every time your life’s journey comes to a curve in the road.” Hello! My name is Monica. My husband, Clint, and I are happily married and have been blessed with five beautiful children; Shealee(21), Sean(17), Shani(11), Shannen(10), and Sherylan(8). God has been gracious to us and kept us strong through years of refining fires. We are not completed works just yet, and continuously make many mistakes. We hope that through the retelling of our journey, you may be encouraged on yours; whatever your personal journey may be. We are parents. We are homeschoolers. We are the Payne’s. Some states mandate that you must complete a certain number of days every year, consisting of a certain number of hours per day. Some even say what days these will be. Some states mandate a total number of hours of instruction per year. And still other states don’t have any mandates on time of instruction at all. The state we began homeschooling in mandated a total of 180 days of four and a half hours instruction each day. You had to declare your school year and keep a record of attendance each month. Our school year ran from September 1st to August 31st every year. Many homeschooling families simply followed the same calendar as the public school. But we quickly found this didn’t work well for us. Clint’s swing shift at work made it difficult to have school while he Then my husband was hired in the usual relocation plan. Yet again, was sleeping during the day. So we modified our schedule, making it a year-round schedule that adjusted as his schedule adjusted. On days that another state and we had to move. our schedule was thrown into chaos. he worked day shift, we had a regular day of school. When he was on evening We chose to buy a camper and stay But we adapted again and was able shift, we did school in the afternoon with more hands-on learning activities. together as a family rather than follow Continued on page 8... During his night shift, we went on field trips (to the library for reading, grocery store for math, fast food restaurants for lunch and p.e.). And when he was off, we were. We color-coded our days so the children knew exactly what was expected of them each day. It worked well for us, until the plant where my husband worked closed down and he lost his job. He was home all the time, which previously meant we didn’t have school. So we had to modify our schedule to work around him being at home. He went back to school to finish his degree and worked around our dining room table in the same room we did our schoolwork. It was challenging, but we worked out a new schedule that worked for everyone. He took over the majority of overseeing and grading schoolwork and I was able to give the house a much needed clean up and actually cook homemade meals three times a day again. I still taught a class on grammar or whatever was needed each day and we had time to dig deeper into our Bible study as a family. It turned our homeschool upside down. But it became a wonderful blessing for our family. We kept our year-round schedule deciding that it was better to keep going unless we had to take a break. We adopted the tortoise from the fable “The Tortoise and the Hare” as our homeschool mascot, showing that even if we moved more slowly than most, as long as we just kept moving, we would finish the race. Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
8Home Is Where the Heart Is
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, Monica Payne
to make the most of our new situation. It has been ten months since we moved to Louisiana. And it has been another great blessing. During the temporary living arrangements before we found our camper, we went to a state of school we like to call “Mandatory Minimum”. The children know to always be prepared to do three things: prayer journal, reading log, and math. I know that if we only get those three things done, we are doing pretty good and they won’t get too far behind. They know that we expect these three subjects done every day except Sunday- with only very few exceptions. Every day, all year. Yet, we had forgotten to bring the math manipulatives, making it difficult to continue in their math curriculum. And we hadn’t been able to bring our school library with us. So we had to adapt even our mandatory minimum. The children practiced their math skills with puzzle sheets and we went to the library for books. But rather than focus on “school” we decided to enjoy our new surroundings and learn about Louisiana until we made the trip home to get our supplies. Once we had moved into our camper and retrieved our supplies, we were able to make a new schedule to fit our new lifestyle, which I explained in a previous article. And now we are on to new adventures! First, thanks to everyone being gracious enough to give their Christmas gifts to our family in money this year, we have been able to compile it all together and go digital! By now, most public schools use some form of digital devices in their classrooms. However, we had only computers for Clint and I to use for record-keeping or curriculum purposes. We once had laptops for the two oldest some time ago, but it didn’t work out the way we had planned. Now each of the children has his/her own iPad. And it has been such a blessing to watch them learning new concepts and exploring new horizons! And secondly, Clint has been offered a new job- in Iowa! What new adventures await us there? So yet again we are called on to adjust and adapt. I am excited to see what blessings God has in store for our family in these two newest happenings in our lives. I guess we will all just have to wait and see! As we wait and look forward to the coming move, the Christmas season is here to enjoy. Every year during Christmas, we continue our schoolwork. Or attempt to. We still expect “Mandatory Minimum” to be completed each day, but we inevitably become busy with the season and don’t do as much as I would like. Continued on page 12...
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10Tumbleweed Smith
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, Bob Lewis
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By Bob Lewis LIVING IT UP IN PHOENIX
As soon as the announcement was made that Baylor was going to play in the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix I started getting emails from my Baylor buddies that read, “Meet me in Phoenix?” So we immediately started making arrangements to get together for a meeting in the desert. We flew out New Years Eve and went to a party hosted by the son of one of my friends. It was in his home and dozens of people were there. It gave Wes, Pinky and me a good chance to share stories and laugh. We laughed a lot before and after the game, even though Baylor lost to a school few people knew about. They know about it now. The University of Central Florida has the second largest enrollment of any university in the USA. More than 50,000 students attend. The campus is in Orlando. According to some alumni we met at our motel, the school is known for computer science and aerospace technology. A new medical school was added recently. UCF was founded in the 60’s as a technical school. The game was a great excuse to get together, although every Baylor fan who went to Phoenix thought it was a sure thing Baylor was going to win. The Bears were a 20point favorite to win over the UCF Knights. I’m just glad we didn’t have expensive seats on the fifty-yard line. We did spring for a high priced tailgate party billed as an upscale inside the stadium party with music and all types of entertainment, food and drink. Wrong. It was outside and the main item on the menu was alcohol. There was plenty of chips and salsa because Tostitos was a sponsor. We had some time and explored a couple of things in Phoenix As we drove to the different venues; we noticed the city had a clean and welcoming atmosphere. The traffic flow was the best I’ve ever experienced in a big city. We went to he Desert Botanical Garden and were surprised to find an exhibit of glassworks by Chihuly. The two textures, cactus and glass, complimented each other. It was a spectacular display of glass spines, swans, ice cubes and globes among the desert plants. We went to the Musical Instrument Museum, a megamillion-dollar project of the
former CEO of Target. It covers several acres and the building has striking architectural features. But the main thing to see is the display of musical instruments from all over the world. Visitors see a lot more than the instruments. Videos and photographs show dances, costumes and music from the hundreds of countries represented. We started out in the African section and realized that we needed not just a few hours but a couple of days to see everything. We visited exhibits from the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the US. Visitors are wired for sound and when they stand in front of a display, the sound of the instruments comes through the headsets. A store in the complex has instruments, recordings, videos and photos from all over the world. When we go back we’ll be sure to get a 2-day pass. (Contact mim.org) When he’s not out driving on small Texas roads looking for characters, Tumbleweed Smith lives with his wife Susan in Big Spring. Contact him at ts@ tumbleweedsmith.com A HOT TIME AT THE MOVIES
“I started clawing at the rice and noodles and flinging it everywhere to get some relief.” The Chinese food was landing on people. “Some of it landed on a bald guy’s head. I could see it when the screen would light up for a couple of seconds. He was reaching up there, not knowing what it was. One person nearby stood up and said in a loud voice, ‘what’s going on? Something hot landed on me.’ A lady yelled out, ‘hot worms are falling from the ceiling.’ I could hear voices screaming things like ‘hot ants are on my face.’ The hot food was falling down people’s shirts and blouses. I was in so much pain I didn’t care where the stuff went. I squirmed out of there and made a run for the bathroom.” In the bathroom he pulled down his pants and looked at the red whelps on his inner thighs and lower abdomen where the hot food had scalded him. Angry men were coming into the bathroom. One whipped off his shirt and started pulling rice from his chest hairs and yelled, “Kids are out there throwing hot rice on people.” My friend, who was acting like a victim rather than the perpetrator, said, “Yeah. Those kids.” He was dabbing his burns with wet towels, standing there with his pants down around his ankles, then backed into a stall and closed the door. Another guy came in screaming, “They’re throwing hot linguini at people.” Now my friend knows about pasta. He started to correct the man and tell him it was Chinese noodles, not linguini, but decided against it. Another guy cam in the bathroom complaining that his wife had major burns on her face. My friend kept quiet. You see why I’m not using his name. Anyway, he waddled out of the stall and left the theater. As he passed the Chinese restaurant he wondered where his fortune cookie landed. The name of the movie was Catching Fire.
A friend of mine publishes a weekly newspaper in a small south Texas town and he loves to sneak food into movie theaters. Recently he attended a movie that had a Chinese restaurant next door. He thought that was awesome. He loves Chinese food. He bought an order of rice, noodles, beef and hot peppers and got it in a to-go carton. He was wearing baggy pants, so he stuffed the carton down in his pants and waddled into the theater, stopping to look at movie posters so people wouldn’t notice the bulge in his pants. In the dark theater the carton began to really heat up. It felt hotter because it was in a tender area. He sort of went into a panic because it felt like he was on fire down there. The theater was packed and he had to cross several patrons to get Tumbleweed lives in Big Spring and to his seat, which was near the middle of produces THE SOUND OF TEXAS syndicated the row. He had to twist and turn because radio series. His website is tumbleweedsmith. some people wouldn’t move their legs to com give him room. All the movement made the carton rupture and the contents began to cascade down his legs. “It hurt so much I had tears in my eyes,” he says. www.MyCounty-Line.com
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11Growing Up Small Town
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, Continued...
thing situation as I was loving the snow, but hating the wind, loving being there but hating the miserable weather -- all at the same time! To top it all off, the structure was mostly open to the wind....so even though we had moved our tent underneath the rigid metal shelter, now the wind would swirl around inside the shelter and the tent couldn’t figure out which way it was supposed to lay down! So as a last resort, I moved the truck from the designated parking area right up onto the cement pad itself -- broadside across the open entrance to the shelter. At least now, the truck provided an effective wind break, but it was literally like having the tent pitched in the living room -- it was a little cramped. Well after 1-o’clock in the morning, we tried to settle back into our sleeping bags and get back to sleep. As I laid there in the dark, without the constant buffetting wind against the tent, all you could hear was the wind whistling around the steel structure over our heads. The sheet metal was popping and flexing against the wind. It was like trying to sleep in the middle of a demolition derby. I tried, I really tried to go to sleep. But the longer I laid there, the more isolated I felt. We were in the middle of the New Mexico mountains; all alone in a noname camp ground off in the woods; no cellphone service; nobody knowing where we were; a winter blizzard was literally knocking on our door; and I’ve seen way too many teen horror films to just roll over and go to sleep! My mind started going over all the bad ideas I had ever had in my life and no matter how many I came up with or
how many I remembered, none of them seemed to top our current situation for its level of stupidity. If you know anything about me, then you know that I believe that the world has little use for acts of stupidity. Some people call it “darwinism” but it’s basically the same thing -- do something stupid long enough and it will bite you in the butt! Some time between 2 and 3-am, I decided that we had pushed our luck far enough. I raised my voice just enough to be heard over the wind and shaking sheet metal and I reluctantly spoke into the dark, “Ruthie, are you awake?” She answered immediately, “Yes.” That was all I needed to hear, I knew she was laying there just as scared as I was so my next question was purely an effort to secure my manhood, “Do you want to pack everything up and go find a hotel?” She already knew the answer, but she had to put me on the spot, not falling for my ploy to have the decision fall on her she asked, “Is that what you want to do?” All pretense aside, my brawny manhood easily blown halfway into the next valley, I sat up and unzipped my sleeping bag as I surrendered to my better judgement and replied, “Yea, let’s get the heck out of here!” We basically shoved the tent into the back of the truck and tossed the daughter into the back seat. Sometime around 5am we located a roadside motel in Las Vegas, New Mexico and thus ended our last official, January camping trip. So much for that. ~mwn www.MyCounty-Line.com
Conservative, Continued...
It is still unknown when Sotomayor will rule on these ludicrous government actions and violations of the nuns’personal religious liberty and constitutional rights. But what is most illuminating about the rise of the nuns’ perilous and oppressive situation is the utter silence of Obama, who often has stood up for progressive minorities who were being crushed by bullying. As NBC News reported about the nuns’ crisis, “the White House’s reaction was muted.” The reason is Obama knows that his administration and health care law are intentionally shoving back against the nuns’ convictions and, indeed, the very power of the Roman Catholic Church -- a huge advocate for the rights of the unborn. Obama is waging war against the Catholic Church and other faith-based organizations to see just how much he can choke the wind out of their beliefs about contraception and abortion and enforce government control over their conscience. Their faith crisis is a nonprofit ecclesiastical replay of what happened in 2012 with some for-profit companies -- Hobby Lobby, Mardel Christian & Education Stores and a Pennsylvania woodworking company, all of which refused to comply with Obamacare’s mandate to provide birth control based upon the owners’ religious beliefs to do so. The very constitutional religious rights of every American are being represented and trampled in the nuns’ case and Obama’s power play. As go the nuns, so we go. Seeing as our president won’t value and honor life in the womb, please write or call your local, state and federal representatives and let them know where you stand. And then ensure your local community of faith is honoring Sanctity of Human Life Sunday on Jan. 19. The day commemorates the Jan. 22, 1973, Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision, which legalized abortion in our country. Since then, more than 55 million abortions have taken place in the U.S. Here are a few ways you can prepare for Sanctity of Human Life weekend: --Ask your pastor, priest or rabbi
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how your place of worship is observing Sanctity of Human Life Sunday by fighting for the lives and rights of the unborn. --Please read the article titled “50 Ways To Help Unborn Babies and Their Mothers,” by my friend and prolific author Randy Alcorn. It’s one of a host of great resources at his website, http:// www.epm.org. Also, get several copies of Randy’s book “Why Pro-Life?” and hand them out to others. --Visit the website started by my dear friends Norm and Anne Miller, http:// www.iamsecond.com. In particular, please listen to the powerful testimony of Lisa Luby Ryan. It is well worth your time. --Watch the story of Abby Johnson, the former director of the Bryan, Texas, Planned Parenthood clinic who blew the whistle on her former employer by telling the shocking truth about everything she saw inside the abortion industry -- and resigned from her job to join the pro-life movement. Johnson helped to expose the multibillion-dollar marketing of abortion in the fifth episode of the Emmy-winning series “Facing Life Head-On,” available to watch online. Also check out Johnson’s new book, “Unplanned,” which details her exposure of Planned Parenthood. --I am also honored to fight for human life in the chapter “Reclaim the Value of Human Life,” in my New York Times best-seller “Black Belt Patriotism,” which is available at http://www.chucknorris. com. A free chapter can be obtained at http://www.chucknorrisnewbook.com. --Most of all, remember these words by British orator Edmund Burke, which are probably more true in our day than they were when he stated them: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook’s “Official Chuck Norris Page.” He blogs at http://chucknorrisnews.blogspot.com. To find out more about Chuck Norris and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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Is Where The Heart Is, Continued...
In years past I have expected our homeschool to continue as usual throughout the holidays. This year, I’m going to allow myself and the children to take a break. We work year round so we can take breaks when we need to, and this is a time when we need to. This year I’m not going to expect my children to keep up with their studies throughout the season. Instead, in order to “just keep the tortoise moving”, I’m going to provide apps for their iPads that will cover the practice they need and allow them to practice at will. And I will be focusing on enjoying the season and doing the things I’ve always loved doing- like decorating and baking! We could have a unit study on Christmas- or we could just enjoy the moments as they come! It will be a nice change of pace for all of us. We began several years ago to change the theme of our decorations each year. We have done “Days of Creation”, “The 7 C’s of History”, “The Wise Men”, “A White Christmas”, “Christmases Past”, and “The Donation Tree”. This year’s theme is “Sweet Blessings”. We will choose ornaments from the sugar plum or gingerbread type and each ornament will represent a blessing in our lives. Our colors this year are pink (represents the blessing of family), turquoise (represents the blessing of life), lime green (represents the blessing of everlasting life), all the colors in the brown family (represents the blessing of mankind to each other), and red (represents the blessing of Jesus’ blood shed for us). This year’s Christmas season will be shorter. We only have two weeks left in the camper before heading to Georgia to spend Christmas with my other parents (most refer to them as the in-laws, but they are more than just my parents in-law,
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they are my other parents inlove). Then we will be packing up to move to Iowa! So “Sweet Blessings” will be short and sweet! Literally. Your school calendar should be based on your life, rather than your life being based on your school calendar. So, if you are fighting your school calendar, stop fighting and adapt. Just another benefit of homeschooling is being able to work around life. You don’t have to “do” school on weekdays if it doesn’t work for your family. Unless your state requires you to follow the public school calendar, you are free to work around whatever happens in your life. You can have school three days a week and work on a hobby for three with a rest day in between. You can have seven half days a week. You can do it any way that works for your family. Don’t drive yourself crazy trying to follow what someone else says is best. Work with what you’ve got and your homeschool will flow with your family’s life. It’s when we fight against ourselves that we go nowhere. Learning happens as life happens. Don’t fight it, flow with it. Give yourself a break and let God carry you through. Your entire family will be thankful and your stress will be lessened. As we continue our journey together, I hope you will come back and join us again. I can’t wait to share our adventures in Iowa! I think we will have a cup of coffee instead of iced tea this time if you don’t mind We homeschool. Do you? ~mp
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13Treasure Hunters
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, Jerry Eckhart
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By Jerry Eckhart To see more of Jerry’s treasure finds, search Facebook for “Jerry Eckhart” Modern Treasure Hunting
It seems that treasure hunting is a new modern fad. We see things about treasure hunting on television, in the newspapers and all over the place now. For the last several years specials on gold prospecting and gold mining have been quite popular throughout the television series. The problem seems to be that although these guys on television seem to find a lot. The amateur who decides to go out and do it never seems to find as much as the professionals do although the television shows make it look much easier than it actually is. If you will roam through your television guide you will find at least two programs airing simultaneously on some kind of treasure hunting. The other night as I set vegetating in my chair I begin to surf throughout the various channels and I counted at least three consistent series and one new series. That new series is on the Oak Island treasure and was been very interesting. As a matter of fact most of the series on treasure hunting in one form or another are very interesting. New treasure finds and treasure stories are eagerly sought by newspapers and magazines unfortunately most of those which are featured in newspapers are simply rewrites of something old. On occasion there will be a particular person who has found a treasure or new clues to a particular lost treasure. That person is quickly interviewed by the media. Everyone seems to be interested now in treasure treasure hunting. As a metal detector dealer, I often receive a number of telephone calls from people who are looking for a specific treasure or who think that they would like to go out and find a treasure. Sadly, few treasures are found when you’re actively searching and most of the large treasures are found as a result of someone just simply stumbling upon them. They are not really looking for a treasure or expecting to find anything of value. Farmers have plowed up treasures in their normal day-to-day fieldwork, hikers stumble on something laying right on top of the ground and yet still treasure hunters don’t give up. The serious treasure Hunter is busy swinging his metal detector over vacant lots school grounds beaches and so on in the hopes of turning up one elusive coin. Others actively comb at yard sales and garage sales, auctions and such in hopes of making up one great fine sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. Television shows now, even the detective shows feature metal detectors more often than they did in the past. That has prompted many an amateur to go out and buy a metal detector. Unfortunately when these new treasure hunters go searching to buy a metal detector from either a hobby store or discount house and they end up with a low dollar, poor performance metal detector. Once they discover that they do not know how to use metal detector and need some help, then they seek out a person who sells a high-quality metal detector for help in training. This is much like trying to give yourself a home haircut and then having to go to a barber to straighten things out. Those beginners would’ve been far ahead of the game had they gone ahead and purchased a metal detector from someone who actually knows about metal detectors. Prices of high-quality metal detectors are
not so much more than those purchased in a discount house the savings in time and frustration as far better and just the price you pay. As a matter of fact, while writing this article, I received a call from a treasure hunter who was doing nothing but shopping for the best price on a metal detector. His only concern was that of price. It’s the same way with prospectors, let’s say instead of just prospectors let’s say beginning prospectors. These amateurs seem to think that you can go to any creek, any stream and find gold. When I first began metal detecting I thought the same thing. When I first started prospecting I thought the same thing. It didn’t take me long to realize that in order to find gold I had to one; go where the gold is, and two; know were to search and how to search. With this army of new treasure hunters out combing the fields and pounding the streams, one would think that there would be nothing left to find. It’s quite untrue because there is a large cadre of quiet, proficient old timers out there searching and making finds on a daily basis. Often they’ll be going in the same places that the new treasure hunters are going but because they know their metal detector and because they know what it will do these oldtimers make finds right in the footsteps of the beginners. Perhaps the most important thing the new treasure hunter can do is become associated with someone who has spent their lives using a metal detector. They should make friends with these folks and do the best that they can to get invited out, or at least invite the experience treasure hunter to a place
they have found where they think there might be some treasure hidden. The new treasure hunters should also spend time reading his direction booklet, playing with his metal detector under controlled conditions, and searching his own yard. A person’s own yard or his neighbor’s yards and lawns can often produce much as much or more than an old site that they have simply read about or heard about. Another thing that the beginning treasure hunters should be aware of is that most of the television shows and newspaper articles etc. etc. have values much higher than the actual value of an item. Another thing treasure hunters should consider is the fact that an item is only worth what another person is willing to pay. The majority of finds made with a metal detector fall into the penny and dime range with very few half dollars or silver dollars being found today. There are two reasons for this first.; the old-timers with their metal detectors years ago were able to locate those larger coins. Second: more small coins are lost than large. If a person is relic hunting for items lost in the past they should be aware that smaller relics are more often lost the larger ones. One is more likely to find part of a pistol rather than an entire pistol. Yes, treasure hunting is a fascinating hobby and more and more people are entering that hobby today than ever before. Should you be one of these welcome to the world of treasure hunting. ~je www.MyCounty-Line.com
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
14Love Lessons Learned So Far
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, Vicki Stiefer
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By Vicki Stiefer Are Men Stupid or Do Women Overreact?
Are men stupid? This question is either incredibly obvious or totally offensive. Is the answer obvious to you or offensive? For me, the answer to this question is a resounding YES! What on earth did my husband do before me? Now, before your cheeks get red and you swear to never read this paper again, keep in mind I am a woman AND an admitted control freak. I have learned from experience that men work better with instruction. Instruction is different from nagging. Take the trash down to the street and put it in the can instead of simply take out the trash. His idea of taking out the trash may be different from yours so proper instruction is essential. If you think about it, women work better with instruction as well. Since we are control freaks and know everything, but waitNEWSFLASH-we don’t know it all. We just look like we have an amazing amount of knowledge. So if women think they know everything are men really stupid? Exhibit A-let’s call him Don. Don and his wife are walking into a restaurant. Don is walking ahead of his wife when she says, “Don, I forgot something in the car.” I feel like a women would have turned around found out what she needed to get in the car. Don stopped and looked up and around like the air raid sirens had just sounded! Exhibit B-let’s call him Jack. Jack likes for his pet to be able to go in and out but he hasn’t put in the pet door yet. So he cracks the back door. He and wife leave for several hours to go out of town for dinner and when they return, the back door is wide open. Anyone could have come in and had a field day. What would he have done without his big screen TV? Exhibit C-let’s call him George. George and Sandy drive to the store for groceries. They will pay cash. Sandy drives and puts her purse on the passenger side by George’s legs. When she drives her purse goes in the same place every single time. When they get out of the car Sandy asks George to give her the purse, but he gets out of the car and opens the back seat to check for the purse. Why on earth would he do that when the purse always goes in the same place every time she drives? Are men stupid?
G e o rg e wasn’t stupid for opening up the back seat instead of reaching right beside his leg. He wasn’t stupid because I am convinced w o m e n overreact. We women overreact over almost everything. “If you don’t remember to close the back door how will you ever remember to pick up our kids from school?” “If you don’t instinctively turn around when your wife says I left something in the car how will you ever remember to take a shower every day?” Women across the world need to take a breath and calm down. Men are not stupid, they are single and double minded. When they are hungry
they think “Food” -- they don’t ask themselves which restaurant or what time or how will they get there. When they have to work they think “Work.” When they grill they think “Fire.” I had to throw that one in there. A caveman reference is always funny. www.MyCounty-Line.com
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
15Huddle Up! ■
www.MyCounty-Line.com ~ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 v7.76 ~ www.Facebook.com/mycountyline , Matt Swinney
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By Matt Swinney Should College Athletes Turn Pro
First off, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!! I hope that your 2014 will be as good or better than your 2013. With a new year here, everyone normally will make a list of New Year’s Resolutions, like losing weight, get fit, or stop smoking or drinking or both. Also, most college football players, especially sophomores and juniors, will be sitting down to make their New Year’s Resolutions. The top thing on their list is: Should I turn pro? One player that has already made their decision is Johnny Manziel, the sophomore Quarterback from Texas A&M. He has decided to forgo his final two years of college to enter the NFL draft. Some notable underclassmen who have declared early for the NFL Draft, include Auburn running back Tre’ Mason, Alabama safety Ha-Ha Clinton Dix, Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, and Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins. It seems to me that, within the past 10 years, more and more college athletes are leaving school early to go pro. The question remains, Should they abandon the college lifestyle to enter the workplace? (when you go pro, you are entering the workplace) According to the National Football League, here are the details of who is eligible for the NFL Draft: “Football players who have been out of high school for at least three years are eligible for the NFL draft. The rules do not state that a player must attend college, but virtually all of the players selected in the NFL draft played college football. A year as a redshirt player in college counts toward eligibility even though the player was not allowed to participate in games during that year. Therefore players who have completed their redshirt sophomore year can enter the NFL draft. A few players are also selected from other football leagues like the Arena Football League or the Canadian Football League.” A lot of athletes feel like they have to go pro so that they can help out their family. My only
problem is that what happens when professional sports doesn’t pan out. You need a plan B. What I mean is, you need to have a backup plan, in the event that pro sports just doesn’t work out Also, there’s a chance that their professional sport career could end early, due to being cut by a team or suffering too many injuries and are forced to leave. Also, once these kids get drafted and get their contracts signed and they get their signing bonus, their eyes get as big as saucers and want to spend it as quick as they get the money. What I would hope, but, honestly would never happen, would be for college athletes to stay ALL four years in college and get their degree, and then go pro. Bobby Knight, who coached at Army, Indiana and Texas Tech, was a college basketball coach, who had a tumultuous career, even though he finished his coaching career with the third most wins in the history of college basketball with 902 wins. Honestly, I didn’t like the way he coached, but one thing I did like him for was his graduation rate.
Every player, who played for Coach Knight, graduated from college. That’s 100%! Some of the reasons that college athletes leave college early, is: the money, which we’ve already talked about, but another reason is that it prevents the risk of being injured. I think that is totally absurd!!! The risk is not diminished if they leave college, it increases. Playing college is different than playing pro. Pro athletes have a better chance for injury than college. Then, the question still remains, Should college underclassmen turn pro? I think no. As a college sports fan, I really enjoy watching college sports because the college atmosphere is different than anything in pro sports. These kids really want to play. But, every year, there will be at least 30 percent of underclassmen that will turn pro. ~ms
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Independent Reps Do you enjoy talking to people and meeting new people??? There are thousands of small businesses in our area that would benefit from getting to know The County Line. And we’re looking for people like you to help spread the word and introduce The County Line to them and their customers! We don’t look for “one-time” ad sales...we want to partner with business owners just like us! The last thing they need is more hassles and they don’t need advertising that never gets seen or heard from! They need someone who will listen, someone who has the talent and skills to bring their ideas to life, and a devoted audience that is eager to get its hands on every issue!
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18The County Line
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■ , Mike W. Norris The County Line Distribution Area
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County Line Word Search
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Visit www.MyCounty-Line.com Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
20This Week In Texas History
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, by Bartee Haile
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By Bartee Haile “MA” Ferguson Serves a Second Term as Governor
On Jan. 17, 1933, eight years and two months after her election as the first female governor in American history, Miriam A. Ferguson returned for a second-term encore.
“Hotel lobbies fairly bristled with ten-gallon hats, high-heeled boots and six-shooters.” Nevertheless, the tense convention was as peaceful as a church meeting, and Miriam was officially proclaimed the Democratic nominee for governor.
Following the impeachment and permanent exile from public office of husband Jim in 1917, “Ma” Ferguson stepped forward to defend the family’s tarnished honor. She waged a successful campaign for the statehouse seven years later but lost a 1926 reelection bid to challenger Following the routine rout Dan Moody. of the sacrificial Republican, Fergusons returned to the The Fergusons were anxious to return the compliment, especially after the governor’s mansion after an Moody masterminded repeal of the Amnesty Bill which restored Jim’s eight-year absence. A sore loser political rights and erased the impeachment proceedings from the senate to the bitter end, Sterling broke records. However, to deny a sitting governor the nearly automatic second with tradition by boycotting term was a risky long shot, so the husband-and-wife team decided to inauguration in January 1933. the wait until 1930 when they would not face an incumbent.
However, long before the polls opened in 1934, the Fergusons had decided against a reelection run. Worried more about winning than losing, they saw no future in ruling a state on the economic skids. The incoming governor in 1935 was Jimmie Allred, an outspoken foe of Fergusonism. While he could not stop Miriam from attending the inaugural ceremony, he did ignore the time-honored custom of having the retiring chief executive publicly present her replacement. Ma Ferguson showed considerably more class by observing the tradition of marking an appropriate passage in the Bible for the new governor. Of course, the selected Scripture also served as a stinging response to the Allred insult.
Miriam made it clear to Jim from the beginning that this time she intended to be her own woman. Interrupting her mate’s enthusiastic pitch on behalf of an old crony seeking an appointment, Ma Ferguson beat the businessman by 72,000 votes in the initial she said firmly, “He may have all “And the proud shall stumble primary, but her 29 percent fell far short of the required majority. In the the qualifications in the world, but and fall, and none shall raise him runoff, Sterling profited from the post-impeachment unpopularity of his he drinks liquor and runs around up; and I will kindle a fire in his with wild women, and I’ll not have opponent’s spouse and pulled off a stunning upset. cities, and it shall devour all around him in my official family.” him.” By the time the next election rolled around, Texas was shuddering Compared to her original rowdy from the aftershocks of the Crash of 1929. Like Herbert Hoover, his Ma sure did have a way with White House counterpart, Gov. Sterling caught more than his fair share reign, Ma’s second term was words! of criticism for the state’s economic woes. With their adversary on the downright subdued. The generous pardon policy which had raised ropes, the Fergusons moved in for the kill. ~bh such a ruckus in the 1920’s was Ma surged ahead by a phenomenal 100,000 votes in the 1932 rematch resumed but not at the previously The big day is here! The History but again failed to put Sterling away in the first round. The gutsy controversial rate of 100 convicts Press publishes Bartee’s first book this incumbent refused to throw in the towel and roared back for a photo per day. She sponsored the bill month! Order your signed copy of Depression-Era Desperadoes” at finish in the second primary. Out of 950,000 ballots, Ma won by a mere that reinstated pari-mutuel horse “Texas barteehaile.com or by mailing a check for handful -- 3,800. racing, a politically dangerous $26.65 to “Bartee Haile,” P.O. Box 152, move under normal conditions but Sterling cried foul claiming “Farmer Jim” stole the election in East one that hard-pressed taxpayers Friendswood, TX 77549. Texas, his traditional stronghold. Vowing to take the fight to the applauded. Bartee Haile welcomes your comments, questions and suggestions at P.O. Box Democratic state convention at Lubbock, the millionaire openly hinted Friendswood, TX 77549 or haile@ he would not hesitate to use the Texas Rangers to pack the meeting to Even Jim seemed to be on his best 152, pdq.net and invites you to visit his new insure his nomination. behavior. Aside from occasional web site at barteehaile.com. broadsides at his innumerable The threat brought caravans of the Ferguson faithful from the Piney enemies, he kept his nose clean Woods to the Panhandle. As Ma’s teenaged daughter later recalled, and steered clear of scandal. www.MyCounty-Line.com Texans were, as usual, up to their ears in gubernatorial wannabes with no fewer than 11 vying for the Democratic nomination. The only candidate capable of giving Ma a good fight was Ross Sterling, the Houston oilman who opened stump speeches with, “Folks, here’s your big fat boy from Buffalo Bayou!”
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
21B.C. ■
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23The Wizard of ID
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, by Parker & Hart
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January 2014 -- Ruthie’s Story, Where We Have Been
Kidney Failure Ruth Norris (“Ruthie”) was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure due to type-1 diabetes on November 1st, 2009. Ruthie spent the rest of 2009 undergoing dialysis treatments 3-times a week in Abilene, Tx. During the spring of 2010, she was approved for a home treatment dialysis called “peritoneal dialysis” which required her to be hooked to an auto-cycler machine every night while she slept. This allowed her to mostly return to a normal schedule, while still dealing with the physical burdens of kidney failure. In the fall of 2010 she completed her evaluation and qualification for organ transplantation and was placed on the waiting list for both a kidney and a pancreas. Being a dual-organ candidate, the waiting list is rather short and we were completely surprised when she received the transplant call on January 6th, 2011. She underwent her transplant surgery on the morning of January 7th, 2011 at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Tx. She was in surgery for 6-hours. We spent the next 3-months living in an on-campus apartment next-door to the medical complex while Ruthie underwent her new transplant recipient treatments. She had several complications which required additional hospitalization during that time. Those first few months were especially difficult. The summer of 2011 was a breath of fresh air. Most everything went very well and for the first time in her life, Ruthie enjoyed the simple pleasures we all take for granted -- like homemade ice cream on a summer day! That was until October rolled around and Ruthie’s transplant organs went into rejection. She spent the entire month of October in the hospital back at Baylor in Dallas. Since October 2011, she has had routine followups with her doctors every 2-weeks in Dallas and Abilene. She continues to suffer from reduced kidney function due to the rejection in October and her doctors believe it could just be a matter of time before she goes back on dialysis. The future is always in motion. Summer of 2012 Toward the end of June, Ruthie spent a stressful stay at Baylor as her doctors tried to diagnose what
was happening with her kidney. Long story short, by the time July rolled around, Ruthie was back in the hospital in Abilene at Hendricks. Her body has rejected the transplant kidney and she has to go back on dialysis. On July 5th, 2012 Ruthie returned to the north Abilene Dialysis Center and restarted her 3-treament per week regiment. Since getting back on dialysis, Ruthie has had a tough experience with nausea and an overall decline in her physical health. She is still working full time for the Eastland Goodwill store and travels three times a week to Abilene for her dialysis treatments but every day she comes home tired and exhausted and more frustrated that she is not her bubbly, joyful self. With patience and time, we all hope Ruthie will be back to a more normal routine and feel better soon! Heart Attack On October 1st, 2012 Ruthie woke up suffering extreme shortness of breath and severe nausea. We rushed her to the Hendrick ER and they had to place her on a ventilator to get her stabilized. She had suffered a mild heart attack. She spent a week in the hospital and was released. During that episode, the transplant pancreas went into shock and ceased producing insulin. Followup with Dallas Transplant confirmed that she had lost the transplant pancreas and Ruthie returned to regular insulin injections. Everything concerning her transplant organs is now up in the air -- Dallas would like to remove the kidney at least and possibly both organs -- this would be a major surgery and they will not do it without authorization from Ruthie’s cardiologist since her heart attack. Stroke Ruthie suffered a stroke on Thursday evening, November 1st, 2012 after returning home from her dialysis treatment. She spent the night in the Hendricks ER and was transferred to the Critical Care Unit. She has reduced function of her right arm and leg and some short-term memory loss. Eventually, Ruthie suffered complete paralysis of her right arm and hand. After 3-months of therapy,
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she returned home with some movement in her right leg and some independence and freedom. Ruthie spent all of 2013 confined to a wheelchair and facing recurring issues from the side effects of the stroke and various complications from dialysis. Recovery We enter January 2014 with a positive attitude. Our goals this year are to teach Ruthie to be less dependent on her wheelchair and to allow her to gain more freedom of movement around the house. She has been able to perform simple tasks such as warming up food on the stove top or in the microwave and when she really feels good, she helps with basic cleaning and washing dishes. Ruthie has a perpetually happy attitude (except on her worst days) and loves to meet long time friends in the grocery store or while shopping at Walmart. She may not be able to articulate names, but she easily recognizes familiar faces and calls out to them “Hello! Hello there!” as soon as she sees anyone she knows! Her favorite phrases, no matter who she’s talking to, are “I’m doing fine”, “How you doing?”, and “I love you.” She loves to talk about our daughter, Sherrie, and anything having to do with cooking and food. Stay tuned.....much more to come.... “For all of our friends and family, we thank you with all our hearts for what you have done for our family. God Bless You!”
Donations may be made to: Farmers & Merchants Bank
Ruth Norris Benefit Fund
930 East Main Eastland, TX 76448 (254) 629-3282 Credit Card donations can be made online at:
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Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com