education: a community commitment

VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Tuesday, August 28, 2012 — B3VictoriaAdvocate.com

Hooray for Peter and B.J.Bunch. And Clara Ramos istotally wrong and Howardfrom Yorktown is right. Wakeup Beatrice, Obama is tak-ing $716 billion from Medi-care.

May, Victoria

In response to Beatrice:President Obama has taken$716 billion out of Medicareand put the money in Oba-macare. This is a fact. Themoney did not come from in-surance companies, it cameout of Medicare. And Oba-macare is already going tocost twice as much as firstprojected. There is no sav-ings in Obamacare.

Mike, Victoria

To Beatrice of Port Lavaca:There are not a bunch of in-surance companies that thismoney is coming from sweet-heart. It will not be going tothe provider, that is true, buthe is going to try to wreckMedicare to save his Oba-

macare. I watchFox News be-cause it is theonly nationalnews where Ican get a fairand balancedunderstandingof what is goingon.

Quincy, Victoria

I was just wondering, doesdowntown Victoria reallyneed to have a pub crawl?

Marilyn, Victoria

Concerning all the peoplewho are fighting about whobelongs to where and whobelongs what and who be-longs here: In all honesty,this land doesn’t belong toanybody. It belongs to God,the Great Spirit, whatever. Itis so funny that we fight forland that in the end is goingto be covering us up. If youwant to be honest about whothe true Americans were, itwas the Native Americans.Everybody else, we are allimmigrants.

Victor, Victoria

ad was born athome with a pieceof skin coveringhis face.

His mother saidthe doctor called this a cauland indicated the skin hadsome meaning, such asgood luck, intelligence andeven the ability to predictthe future. Although she re-peated the story for manyyears, my father, as a child,never saw much of a futurefor himself beyond thewrong side of the tracks inTopeka, Kan.

He hated the first fewgrades of school. In the sec-ond grade, a teacherslapped him on the face be-cause he and some otherboys were chasing girlsaround the playground.That teacher’s angry faceburns in his memory almost80 years later. He flunkedsecond grade.

In fifth grade, a differentteacher provided his firstshot of confidence in school.This teacher knew Dad hadlearned to divide by frac-tions and asked him to go tothe chalkboard to demon-strate to the rest of the class.

Along with this boost froma mentor, societal changeshelped my dad. Born in1930, he was one of 11 chil-dren during a time whenstudents commonly leftschool after completing thesixth grade. This era waschanging at the same time

as my fatherwas beginningto advance inschool.

Before hisbirth, his fami-ly had movedfrom the farmto Topeka,where his father workedvarious hard-labor jobs andleased a small acreage nextto the Kansas River justeast of “Little Russia.” Oneof my dad’s chores as a10-year-old was to carry twobuckets of garbage fromtheir home to feed the pigseach morning before school.

Because the family hadmoved to town, Dad couldcontinue in school. All of hisseven older siblings, born alittle too soon for thischange, dropped out beforecompleting high school. Dadwas the first in his family tograduate; his three youngerbrothers followed.

Still, Dad didn’t see col-lege as any sort of reality.At 18, he landed a job atMorrell Meat Packing,pulling carts of meataround for a year and ahalf. One day, he looked attwo old guys – they musthave been 40 – walkingdown the hall and thought,“These guys have beenhere for 20 years and don’tmake make much morethan me.”

He quit the job and decid-ed education could lead to a

better life.Even still, hecouldn’t imag-ine a universi-ty as an op-tion, so he en-rolled in a

one-year business collegeprogram and learned book-keeping.

A few months later, he wasdrafted into the MarineCorps during the KoreanWar. For the first time, Dadrealized he was intelligentafter he scored the sec-ond-highest on an IQ testgiven in boot camp and waschosen as the outstandingmember of his platoon. Hisbusiness training kept himfrom the front lines; in-stead, he was put in chargeof accounting for the 1stMarine Air Wing officers’clubs in Korea and Japan.

The Marines offered Dada commission to stay in theservice, and his fellow ser-vicemen warned him he’dstarve to death out on hisown. By then, though, Dadwas convinced he needed tocomplete college and be-come a certified public ac-countant.

The GI bill and incredibledetermination helped Dadachieve his dreams, eventhough he already was mar-ried with a small child whenhe left the Marines. Whilethe GI bill provided a thirdof his income, Dad workedmultiple jobs to make it

through Washburn Univer-sity and later opened hisown CPA firm.

As a kid, I heard these sto-ries, but they remained along way from my reality.My three siblings and I nev-er doubted we would go tocollege – it was expected.My two children, both inhigh school, carry forwardthis gift.

I could go on a long timeabout my hero – he foundthe strength to carry oneven after his wife had to behospitalized with a mentalillness and later left him. Hetook sole custody of theirchildren and found the loveof his life – they will cele-brate 50 years of marriageon Valentine’s Day 2014.

But I share his story to ex-plain why I believe in yourAdvocate’s education pro-ject, “A Community Com-mitment.” Countless peoplehave stories to share abouthow education changed oris changing their lives. Dur-ing the coming year, wehope to celebrate those withyou and inspire more tomake a difference.

This project can seemoverwhelming in scope, butI think of Dad when pushingforward.

Chris Cobler is the edi-tor of the Victoria Advo-cate. He may be reachedat [email protected] orat 361-574-1271.

t’s official. Cases of WestNile virus have been con-firmed in the Crossroads.One case has been con-firmed in Lavaca County,

and another in Wharton County,which, sadly, resulted in a death.

While there may not be an epi-demic of West Nile virus in ourarea, its presence is definitelycause for concern, and we encour-age all of our readers to take pre-cautions when going outdoors.Just like dealing with any otherdisease outbreak, the best way tofight it is to not catch it in the firstcase, and we encourage all area

residents to follow some simplestep from the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention to stop orlimit the possibility of being infect-ed with this virus.

West Nile virus is transmitted viamosquito bites, so the first step forprevention is getting rid of anystanding water, which is a breed-ing area for mosquitoes, as well asinstalling or repairing well-fittingscreens on your home. It’s hardfor the mosquitoes to bite you athome if they can’t get inside.

When going outside, make sureyou use an EPA-registered insectrepellent, such as those with

DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eu-calyptus. The hours from dusk todawn are the peak hours formosquitoes, so be extra cautiouswhen going outside during thosetimes. Also, during the coolerhours of the day, such as earlymorning or late evening, wearinglong sleeves and pants can helpprevent bites. But mosquitoes canstill bite through thin clothing, soyou can also take the precaution ofspraying your clothes with repel-lant. Just make sure the clothesare made of material that won’t beharmed by the chemicals and canbe washed easily. The CDC also

warns people not to spray repel-lent on skin that will be covered byclothing.

As with many cases, there aresome people who are typicallymore vulnerable to infection, in-cluding seniors and young chil-dren. So we encourage seniors andparents to take extra precautionsto protect from this disease. Noteveryone who is infected will havesevere symptoms. Mild symptomsinclude a small fever and flu-likesymptoms. More severe cases canresult in permanent neurologicaldamage or even death.

West Nile virus is a concern that

surfaces every summer. Some-times there is hardly any out-break, but this year is different.Dallas has begun aerial sprayingto try and stop the spread of thevirus, which has infected hundredsand killed 12 in Dallas Countyalone. So we encourage Cross-roads residents to take every pre-caution to protect themselves. Thebest way to fight the virus is to notget it in the first place. Stay safeand healthy.

This editorial reflects the viewsof the Victoria Advocate’s edi-torial board.

VIEWPOINTSCongress shall make no law respect-ing an establishment of religion, or

prohibiting the free exercise thereof; orabridging the freedom of speech, or of thepress; or the right of the people peaceablyto assemble, and to petition the govern-ment for a redress of grievances.

– First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

■ Topic: West Nile virus ■ Our View: It’s best to take steps to protect from infection

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We want your letters because we value your opinion on issues inthe community and region. We have few requirements and will helpyou meet these if needed.We will need your name, home address and daytime telephone orcell phone number so we can contact you to verify you want youropinion published.

When sending letters by email, and if you do not hear from uswithin a couple of days, you should call us to see if we receivedyour letter because, sometimes, our email filter will not let a letterthrough.

Our letter lengths are 150 words for thank-yous, 200 words forelection-related letters and 350 words for all others. We ask thatletter writers submit one letter per 30-day period. Letters may bedelivered at the Advocate, 311 E. Constitution St.; mailed to P.O.Box 1518, Victoria 77902; faxed to 361-574-1220; or emailed [email protected].

Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak inthine ears, and in the ears of all the people; The prophets

that have been before me and before thee of old proph-esied both against many countries, and against greatkingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The

prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of theprophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be

known, that the Lord hath truly sent him.Jeremiah 28:7-9

“In the arts of life man invents nothing; but in the arts ofdeath he outdoes Nature herself, and produces by chemistry and

machinery all the slaughter of plague, pestilence and famine.”George Bernard Shaw,

Irish literary critic, playwright and essayist

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Editorial page editor: Lauren Hightower-Emerson, 361-580-6590, [email protected]

Preventative action could keep away virus

Obamacare will save money, not take it away

Editor, the Advocate:I feel compelled to respond to the belief that President

Obama is TAKING $716 billion from Medicare.Because of the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, $716 bil-

lion is being SAVED. Fraud and waste have been reduced.The “donut hole” has been closed. If you believe the Rom-ney campaign that Medicare will not change, you are sorelymistaken. He will put back the “donut hole” and cause se-niors to pay more out of their pocket. Eventually, seniorswill get a voucher to buy their own insurance instead ofhaving Medicare.

Try listening to something besides Fox News. Try MSNBCor CNN. I have myself tried to watch Fox News, but it is toobiased. By the way, Paul Ryan takes the same $716 billionsavings and uses it to give tax breaks to the rich and in-crease the military budget. I can’t really say what Romneyplans to do. He won’t say. We have to TRUST him?

Gayle Mireles, Port Lavaca

Education changed Dad’s life, broke family cycle

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Phone361-580-6587.Voice your

opinion.

Dan Easton,Publisher

John M. Roberts,President,

Chairman of the Board

Catherine R. McHaney,Secretary-Treasurer

Chris Cobler,Editor, Vice-President of Content

Hamp Rogers, Circulation/Marketing Director

Becky Cooper, Local EditorTony Balandran,

Delivery Desk EditorLauren Hightower-Emerson,

Community Conversation EditorJessica Puente, Interactivity Editor

Opinions published on this page under the heading “From Us”represent the consensus views of the editorial board of the

Victoria Advocate, whose members are named above.

E D I T O R I A L B O A R D

Callers talk aboutMedicare, other topics

Thank you for joining family in time of grief

Editor, the Advocate:On behalf of the Carrion family, we would like to thank ev-

eryone for attending the rosary and funeral on our recentloss of Mr. Rene Carrion. Words cannot express what itmeant to us for all of our friends and family that attended,for the words of consolation, for the prayers, flowers andfood that all of our friends took their time to prepare, espe-cially the Ladies’ Club from St. Patrick Church in Seadrift,for Deann Al Calzada, Pan de Vida Choir of Our Lady of theGulf, and Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Bauer Jr., Mrs. Consuelo Gar-cia of Goliad, Mr. Gilbert Sanchez of Knights of Columbus,for the Masses offered for my husband Rene Carrion, forthe donations that were sent, for the building fund of thenew hall in Seadrift.

Again, I thank you and many blessings to each of youfrom my family and myself.

Mrs. Rene Carrion and family, Port Lavaca

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B6 — VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Wednesday, May 23, 2012 VictoriaAdvocate.com

I don’t think any changesshould to be made to theway that valedictorians areselected.

There are winners and los-er in all things throughoutlife. Students should havelearned this by the time theyhave reached the age of 17or 18.

Linda, Port Lavaca

No matter what the court’sverdict was, his conduct wasinappropriate. The formerRutgers student will have tolive with his actions the rest

of his life.

Mary, PortO’Connor

From a trafficsafety point ofview, ex-mayorLittleton couldnot have pickeda worse placein five points to

put his electronic sign. It hasfive stop signs controllingthe intersection. It is the onlythoroughfare in Victoria withoutdated narrow lanes, noleft turn lane. To boot, this isthe only stop sign on U.S. 59from Texarkana to Laredo.

Ray, Victoria

Community can help education succeed■ Topic: Victoria College bond, education in Victoria ■ Our View: Residents can make a difference

ducation has a nearly un-quantifiable value in life.Its value cannot be mea-sured in money invested,hours spent studying or

even in drops of blood, sweat andeffort. If there is any way to mea-sure education, it is in the effects,changes and progress it givesthose who reach for it and supportit in others.

We are proud that Victoria votersseem to understand this and ap-proved the Victoria College bondby an overwhelming 66 percent,which VC President Tom Butlercalled a real vote of confidence.The bond will be used to build anEmerging Technology Center,

which Butler says will be used totrain a competitive workforce forthe industrial companies coming toVictoria. Butler also says, providedeverything proceeds according toplan, the center will be be finishedafter 18 months at the earliest.

There is a shortage of skilledworkers across the nation. And weapplaud Victoria College for beingpart of the solution by taking aproactive approach to education.Their commitment to training theworkforce of tomorrow will be anamazing boon to the Victoria econ-omy, both by increasing the area’sskilled workforce, but also by pro-viding an incentive for businessesto come to Victoria. Businesses

are much more likely to choose atown that has a trained workforcereadily available, rather than aplace where they must bring work-ers in from the outside.

And it is this proactive stancethat we would like to see the restof the community imitate. Lastmonth, the Victoria IndependentSchool District started a communi-ty involvement project, which de-veloped seven items to focus on.The Victoria Advocate is also de-veloping a project that will focuson building community support foreducation. These are long-termprojects that will require a largesupport base from the communityto be successful.

What can you do to support edu-cation in Victoria? There is some-thing everyone can do, if they arewilling to give a bit of their time toinvest in the next generation. Per-haps churches can offer weekly tu-toring sessions to struggling stu-dents. A group of local businessescould form to create a scholarshipfund or participate in field tripsand career day events to help stu-dents decide where they want togo in life. People familiar withSpanish or other foreign languagescan tutor students in the Englishas a Second Language program.There are many creative ways anymember of the community cancontribute to the education sys-

tems in Victoria, if they are onlywilling to invest the time.

Victoria has an amazing highereducation system, for its size. Butwe would love to see the supportshown for Victoria College in therecent election extend to youngerstudents in VISD and otherschools as well. Community sup-port could be one of the crucial in-gredients to see our local schoolsreach a whole new level ofprogress. Will you take the time tofind a way to make a difference?We hope you will.


The Victoria Advocate willbe publishing student es-says from the Victoria Col-lege “What’s Your Story?”scholarship competitionduring the next few weeks.Students were asked towrite an essay answeringthe question, “How has Vic-toria College changed yourlife?” Winners of the con-test, who will receive a$1,000 scholarship fundedby the Victoria CollegeFoundation, will have theiressays published last. Wewelcome letters andcolumns from all students.

ow has VictoriaCollege changedmy life, you ask? Ithas changed mylife significantly.

I’m excited for what my fu-ture holds. It has given medignity and pride. I have apurpose, a drive within my-self that I have never hadbefore. I wake up every daywith the knowledge that to-day I’m bettering myself,educating myself and be-coming somebody that I’mproud to be. Victoria Collegehas changed my life in away that no one could everimagine. It’s taking me in adirection where the sky isthe limit, and as of now, I’mon cloud nine.

My name is Stephanie. I’m25 years old. I was born inEast Texas. I’ve movedaround from place to placewith no real stability as far

back as I canremember.I’ve been sur-rounded bypoverty, vio-lence andabuse my en-tire life. Itseems sincethe very beginning, the oddswere always stackedagainst me. My mother suf-fers from bi-polar and is avictim of domestic violence;she was very abusive andbeat me on a regular basis.She lived off of welfare, foodstamps and any handoutthat she could get. Often, Iremember my mother notbeing home at night whilemy sister and I were homealone. We were always hun-gry. My father, who has hadrun in after run in with thelaw, was also a victim of do-mestic violence. Neither ofthem graduated from highschool.

From a very young age, Ifelt hopeless. I carried aheavy burden and I wasashamed. I didn’t feel like anormal kid. I thought beingpoor and afraid was just theway life was. At 17, I foundout I was going to be amother. I was terrified andalone, so I moved in withher father. I graduated highschool with my daughterthere to watch me walk withmy class. I began to havehopes and dreams of be-coming a nurse, but quicklyrealized that wouldn’t behappening. My daughter’s

father began to abusedrugs, alcohol, and shortlyafter, me too. I quickly foundmyself caught up in the vi-cious cycle. I was just an-other statistic on a piece ofpaper. It was six years be-fore I got the strength andcourage to say “NOMORE!” and put an end tothe abuse for good.

As of today, I have starteda new chapter in my life.I’ve been living in Victoriaaway from the violence andsubstance for two yearsnow. Even though the vio-lence hasn’t been around,my life still seemed empty. Ifelt like I was stuck goingnowhere. One day last win-ter, I was getting my blooddrawn when I overheard aphlebotomy student fromVictoria College talkingabout how great the classeswere and how excited shewas to graduate. I was in-terested, and since I was inthe area, I decided to gocheck it out. Immediately,when I spoke to an advisor, Iwas shown such respectand enthusiasm for my de-cision to start school. I wasencouraged to go all theway and not to stop until Ihave that degree in myhand. I got excited the moreI was shown. When the ad-visor spoke, the thoughts of“I can do this” explodedthrough my brain. I left feel-ing more motivated than ev-er. Right away, I got down tobusiness and did what Ineeded to do to get enrolled

and registered for classes. Ieven took the phlebotomyclass waiting for the springterm to start. I have earnedmy certificate in phleboto-my, learned more math ineight weeks than I everhave in my life, and I feelvaluable. It’s only my firstsemester at Victoria Col-lege, but I know I’m headedsomewhere and the journeyis going to be great. I amecstatic. I’m someone I nev-er thought I’d be: a collegestudent.

My story is, that I’m end-ing the cycle of abuse today.Not as a statistic, not withthe stigma of a batteredchild and wife following inmy shadow, but as an ed-ucated woman breakingthat mold, that God awfulhold that abuse and povertyhad on me. Victoria Collegechanged my life by givingme direction, hope andself-esteem. I now have afuture; a better life waitingjust over the horizon be-cause Victoria College be-lieved in me.

After recently relocatingto Victoria fromWyoming, 26-year-oldStephanie Milam is pur-suing a degree in nurs-ing. After she completesher associate degree atVictoria College, sheplans to pursue a bach-elor’s degree and hopesto one day work in anemergency room as asurgical nurse.




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Wherefore their way shallbe unto them as slippery

ways in the darkness: theyshall be driven on, and falltherein: for I will bring evilupon them, even the year

of their visitation, saith theLord.

Jeremiah 23:12

“Night’s darkness is the bagthat bursts with the gold of

the dawn.”Rabindranath Tagore,

Indian poet, playwright andessayist

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Silently PersistentMonks

Silence reigned in themonastery.Persistence carved a havenin the wilderness.Monks in the fields planted,harvested, and shared thefruits of their labor.Copyists bend over beauti-fully illustrated manuscripts.Prayer hemmed the day andstudded the night.

Sr. Frances Cabrini Janvier,Victoria

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Jack Marr has respect, knowledge for court

Editor, the Advocate:Judge Pat Kelly is one of the most well respected judges

in the State of Texas. He will be missed by not only thelawyers who practiced in his court, but more importantly,by the citizens who appeared before him and found that re-gardless of the outcome their case, they received a fair tri-al. However, voters in the 24th Judicial District have an op-portunity to elect a successor to Judge Kelly, who will main-tain the reputation, integrity and efficiency of that court.That person is Jack Marr.

I have handled cases with Jack Marr for almost 30 years.While Jack Marr is a tough, no nonsense litigator, he hasalways treated his adversaries with professional courtesywhile maintaining his principles of fairness as an advocatefor his client. Every family law lawyer in not only the Victo-ria area, but in the State of Texas, recognizes Jack Marr’sknowledge of Texas law. Our law firm has a great deal ofrespect for Jack Marr and we believe he is the right choicefor District Judge of the 24th Judicial District Court.

Ronny Collins, El Campo

What Warrior’s Weekend means to a veteran

Editor, the Advocate:This past weekend was Warrior’s Weekend in Port O’Connor,

a way to give back to veterans who have sacrificed so much fortheir country. I served alongside men and women like thesefine warriors and knowing that I live in a community that willcome together and show its appreciation for their service totheir country means a lot. I was fortunate and during my toursin Iraq I did not receive any wounds that physically preventme from day-to-day tasks. It’s hard to see a fellow veteran thatwas not as fortunate, but I can count my blessings and knowthat good people care about those who were wounded in com-bat. From a combat veteran to the organizers, volunteers andpeople who just go and shake hands with these extraordinarymen and women, I would like to say thank you.

Michael Allen, Seadrift

Victoria College helped me break the cycle

H

E

STEPHANIEMILAM


opinion.

Dan Easton,Stephen McHaney

Co-Publishers







Delivery Desk EditorNick Rogers, Senior Copy Editor

Lauren Hightower-Emerson, InterimCommunity Conversation Editor

Jessica Puente, Interactivity Editor




Callers talk about classranking, other topics

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Good manners, morals are things of past

Editor, the Advocate:I totally agree with Bette Andrews Noble’s letter of May

17. Good manners and good morals are things of the past.When I was young, if a girl was pregnant out of wedlock, she

was shunned; now it is common practice because the govern-ment will subsidize your income. What a shame our self-re-spect and morals have dropped so low. Way to go, Bette.

Kathryn Roese, Yoakum

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H2 — VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Sunday, August 26, 2012 VictoriaAdvocate.com

he Victoria Regional Air-port is seeing plenty ofchanges recently, and weare excited to see thesedevelopments taking

shape.The new air carrier Sun Air In-

ternational is tentatively set to be-gin service on Sept. 17. The com-pany will bring Victoria two planeswith four flights a day to and fromHouston with consistently lowprices. Victoria’s enplanementswere up before the previous carri-er left, so we hope this new carri-er will encourage Victorians andother Crossroads residents to takeadvantage of a local airport when

it’s time to make their travel plansfor business or holiday travel.

In addition to a new carrier, theairport is also planning to replacethe water and sewer systems,which are remnants of the air-port’s history as a military base,meaning the current systems arewell over 60 years old.

According to Airport ManagerJason Milewski, the old clay pipesare laid in a complex, web-likenetwork with obsolete designs andmapping. Some of the pipes run tobuildings that aren’t there any-more, and there are severalvalves buried that are frozenopen, causing pressure flow prob-

lems. In addition, there are me-ters placed on both the water andsewer systems, which often getflooded during heavy rains.Milewski says there have beentimes when the airport hadmonthly water and sewer bills of$18,000 after heavy rains seepedinto the systems.

These are serious issues thatneed to be fixed. They present notonly safety and environmental is-sues, but also are an unnecessarydrain on the airport’s funds. Weare pleased that the airport isable to take advantage of a grantto begin this important work toimprove the water and sewage

systems. The $1.75 million projectis paid for by a Texas Departmentof Transportation grant, as well asand additional $175,000 from Victo-ria County. Milewski said the mon-ey can only be used to repair theaircraft rescue and firefightingwater system along the runwaysand flight lines, but eventually theentire system will be replaced, re-sulting in a significant amount ofannual savings in utility costs.

We are happy to see the airportgetting this major boost to helpbegin replacing this obsolete sys-tem. This is a good starting pointthat can be expanded to includeother systems as progress is

made and the funding is madeavailable. We encourage the cityand county to look for ways to pri-oritize this need and help this im-portant piece of Victoria’s econo-my replace all of these defunctsystems. The better equipped theairport is, the more successful itwill be, which in turn will helpgrow the economic success of thearea. We look forward to seeingthe new systems installed andworking, giving the airport anoth-er boost toward success.

This editorial reflects theviews of the Victoria Advo-cate’s editorial board.

e’ve heard thestatistics – toomany studentsare dropping outof high school

and even fewer are going onto college. Let’s not eventalk about the stories thatdetail how our students arefalling behind, especiallywhen compared to thosefrom China or India.

There is no doubt thatwhen it comes to our ed-ucation system, there is lotsof pessimism.

So to some of you, it mayseem a bit Pollyannaish,that on the eve of the firstday of school, The VictoriaAdvocate is launching acampaign to get us thinkingabout education as a com-munity commitment. I be-lieve Victoria is just theright kind of city to embracethis challenge. It is also im-perative that we do so. Ourcity can only continue tothrive as it grows if we en-sure that all children haveaccess to opportunities.

I became interested in ed-ucation issues after I spenta year teaching at my almamater, La Joya High Schoolin the Rio Grande Valleyback in the late 90s.

That experience helpedme realize that while I couldnot control parent incomesand education levels – fac-tors that largely predict astudent’s academic success– there was lots that I coulddo. In fact, many studieshighlight the importance ofmentoring relationships be-tween educators and stu-

dents. Whenstudentsknow thatthere are oth-ers investedin their fu-ture, theybecomemore invest-ed themselves. I alsolearned that we all neededto start encouraging kids topursue higher educationwhile they were still in el-ementary school.

Unfortunately, by the timesome of my sophomore stu-dents showed up at my En-glish literature class, theyhad already decided thatcollege was not for them. Agood number of those stu-dents had never had anadult – at home or at school– tell them college was apossibility.

Later, as a reporter andcolumnist, I wrote about ed-ucation issues and inter-viewed educators from allover. One teacher’s ap-proach stayed with me.Marcia Niemann taught im-migrant teenagers in Dal-las. Because they oftencome to U.S. schools notspeaking English and hav-ing skipped years of school-ing back home, immigrantteens are at the most risk ofdropping out. Even thoughMs. Niemann knew abouthalf of her students wouldleave Adamson High Schoolwithout a diploma, shestressed life-long learning.She wanted her students toknow that you were nevertoo old to learn and that ed-

ucation didnot end with ahigh schooldiploma. Shehoped they’deventuallypreach the

same message to their ownsiblings and, one day, theirown children. So she sawher job as an investmentacross generations.

I realize that at this pointin this column, some of youmay be thinking I’m sound-ing naively optimistic. But Ican only speak from expe-rience. As a child of immi-grants – my father had asecond-grade education, mymom went up to fifth grade– I know not all families cando it alone. My father andmother provided a healthyhome environment and myteachers helped me navi-gate worlds foreign to myMexican-born parents. Infifth grade, it was Mr. PedroMendoza, my Spanish U.I.L.poetry coach, who exposedme to Latin American liter-ary giants like Gabriela Mis-tral and Amado Nervo. WhatI also learned from that ex-perience was that Spanish,my parents’ native lan-guage, was beautiful andthat I should work at keep-ing it. In middle school, itwas Dagoberto “Betto”Ramirez who taught mehow to analyze poetry andshort stories and no doubtinfluenced me to become anEnglish major in college.Throughout my years at LaJoya Independent SchoolDistrict, it was Nena Garza,

who was then the director ofthe district’s University In-terscholastic League office,who encouraged me alongand was an amazing rolemodel – a strong and as-sertive, compassionatewoman who seemed to al-ways get what she wanted.They are just a few exam-ples of those who helped me.To list all my mentors androle models, I’d need a book.

What exactly, you may bewondering, can you do? Somany possibilities!

Maybe you can organize aschool supply drive at youroffice. If you own your busi-ness, maybe you can donatebooks for kids who don’thave any at home.

But you don’t need to or-ganize events or big dona-tions to get started. You cancommit to taking your chil-dren to the library more of-ten. You can always volun-teer at one of the localschools. Or, you can start bysending a letter to the ed-itor thanking that teacher ormentor who made a differ-ence in your life.

It may seem like baby stepsas opposed to the sprintsneeded to steer us clear, butwe’ve got to start some-where. And, most important-ly, we’ve got to start now.

Macarena Hernandez,the Victoria AdvocateEndowed Professor inHumanities at the theUniversity of Hous-ton-Victoria, teaches inthe Communication De-partment.




■ Topic: Improvements at Victoria Regional Airport ■ Our View: Changes are step in the right direction

F R O M U S

We want your letters because we value your opinion onissues in the community and region. We have few re-quirements and will help you meet these if needed.We will need your name, home address and daytimetelephone or cell phone number so we can contact you toverify you want your opinion published.

When sending letters by email, and if you do not hear fromus within a couple of days, you should call us to see if wereceived your letter because, sometimes, our email filter willnot let a letter through.

Our letter lengths are 150 words for thank-yous, 200 wordsfor election-related letters and 350 words for all others. Weask that letter writers submit one letter per 30-day period.Letters may be delivered at the Advocate, 311 E. Con-stitution St.; mailed to P.O. Box 1518, Victoria 77902;faxed to 361-574-1220; or emailed to [email protected].

Then Joseph her husband, being ajust man, and not willing to make hera public example, was minded to put

her away privily.Matthew 1:19

“Smile at each other, smile at your wife,smile at your husband, smile at your chil-

dren, smile at each other – it doesn’tmatter who it is – and that will help you

to grow up in greater love for each other.”Mother Teresa of Calcutta,

Albanian-born Indian missionary andfounder of the Order of the Missionaries of

Charity


F R O M Y O U

Vanished into theNight

The sunset vanished intothe night.The owl vanished into thenight.The grazing deervanished into the night.The grey fox vanishedinto the night.Night swallowed it all.Sr. Frances Cabrini Janvier,

Victoria


S P O T L I G H T L E T T E R

F R O M O T H E R S


Things are coming together at the airport

Store employees should not be treated like this

Editor, the Advocate:I am disturbed by the hurt that the D&D Novelties employ-

ees are being subjected to. Three first degree felonies oneach individual for selling a product they felt was totally legalby Texas laws. They were never informed or told not to carrythis product by any persons of law enforcement. I really feelthey were a pawn. Almost 12 years in business I know theywould never jeopardize their business or themselves. Why, ifthe city felt they were doing was wrong, Why didn’t they letthem know, instead of taking it to such an extreme on thesegood people? Why make such a big show for Victoria? Didthey really need to waste thousands of tax dollars when theycould have just talked to them? These people would havecomplied immediately. They are the most Compassionate,Generous and Charitable business in Victoria that I and sev-eral other people know. Giving to several events, sponsor-ships and donations like, medical benefits, runs, veterans,fire departments, animal rescues, music events, military, firevictims, schools, haunted houses and so much more. I feel theCity has put a black cloud over these people unfairly. Givenharsher charges than some known murderers and rapists.Please show your support by advocating this business. Do wereally want to lose our rights to have this store here?

Donna Gandy, Victoria

Thank you for helping Loose the Youth

Editor, the Advocate:

We would like to thank the following businesses and

individuals for their donations to the Loose the Youth

Camp/Conference held July 9-13: Better Beverages (Dr

Pepper), Bill’s Bikes, Mr. Bob Boyke, Burger King,

Johnny Carino’s, Casa Ole, Chili’s, Church’s Chicken

(Ben Jordan and N. Navarro locations), Cimarron Ex-

press; Cole, Cole and Easley; Cookie Bouquet, Country

Bakery, Culligan’s, Der Weinerschnitzel, Dick’s Food

Stores, Double J’s Eatery, Donut Palace, Fast Stop, Fo-

liage Shoppe, Great American Cookies, Mrs. Bridle

Greeson, Drs. Richard and Rachel Heard, H.E.Bs,

IHop, Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Irvin, Jason’s Deli, Las Pal-

mos, McAdams Floral, McDonald’s, Magic Industries,

Montana Mike’s, Mumphord’s Place, Olive Garden, Pi-

co de Gallo, Professional Telecom, Rainbow-Sno,

Ramsey’s Restaurant, Mr. Ismael Ramirez, Ms.

Susan Rivas, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Russell, Sam’s,

Schlotzsky’s, Mr. and Mrs. Bryce Scott, the

Marsha Shanklin Foundation, Tasty

Donuts, Texas Drive-Inn, Uncle

Mutt’s, Ventura’s, Veracruz, Victory

Inn, Walmart and Wendy’s.

May God bless you all.

Pastors Walter and Boni-ta Ford, Loose the

Youth Founders,Victoria

You can make a difference, as my mentors did

W

T








Delivery Desk EditorNick Rogers, Senior Copy EditorLauren Hightower-Emerson,





MACARENAHERNANDEZ

Obama is taking money from Medicare

Editor, the Advocate:People don’t understand what’s going on with Medicare.

For one thing, for Obama to take money from privatelyowned insurance companies to fund Obamacare, theywould have to be not only created by the federal govern-ment, but also funded by the federal government, which ofcourse they are not. The money was pilfered out of Medi-care by Obama for his precious Obamacare. I’d ratherwatch Fox News than Chris Matthews (the Panama Canalis in Egypt). At least their reporters aren’t given writtenscripts on what to say and what not to say about Obama, byhis administration.

Dwain Boehl, Victoria

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VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Wednesday, August 29, 2012 — B5VictoriaAdvocate.com

hen Charles wasa junior at EastHigh School, hewas struggling inAlgebra. He felt

like he just would not be ableto get the concept of thistype of math. He was ad-vised to visit the Sure BETMentor Program masterteacher at his campus to getsome help from a mentorwho could share with himthe tools they had in under-standing his problem. Within3 weeks, with the help of hismentor who visited him ev-ery week for 30 minutes ormore, Charles grasps theconcept and understandsthe processes of algebra.Charles was so excited thathe was finally able to under-stand his math problems, heasked to become a mentorhimself. Now Charles, a stu-dent at East High School, ishelping his peers under-stand the math that wasonce a challenge for him andis now much easier.

Mentoring can play a pow-erful role in reducing drugabuse and youth violence,as well as boosting academ-ic achievement. By mentor-ing a child, you help buildcharacter and confidence inthat student that will alwaysplay a helping role to makegood choices. These mentorpartnerships help studentsexpand their universe bysharing stories of life expe-riences and helping themnavigate a path to success.Despite these benefits, how-ever, the gap between thenumber of mentors and the

number ofyoung peoplewho need amentor contin-ues to grow.

VBEC is anon-profit or-ganizationdedicated tohelping provide studentswith mentors who will givethem guidance to improvetheir academics and instillin them confidence, as wellas encouraging them to stayin school. Currently, wehave about 188 active men-tors in VISD schools. Wehave approximately 5, 300students (out of approxi-mately 14,000) in our VISDschool system we try toserve. We have five campus-es: Hopkins Elementary(506 students), Patti WelderMiddle School (713 stu-dents), Stroman MiddleSchool (821 students), EastHigh School (1693 students),West High School (1529 stu-dents). We have a seriousshortage in the number ofmentors needed if we hopeto reach just these studentsat the schools in which wehave established mentoringprograms.

All mentoring is donethrough the support ofVISD by having a teacherwith you at all times to helpyou in helping the child youare working with. Once aweek, you visit that child atone of the five locations(Hopkins, Patti Welder, Stro-man, East or West HighSchool) for 30 minutes dur-ing the school year. All the

materials areprovided andthe time ofday to mentoris flexible dur-ing the schoolday anytime

during the week.Through this process of

mentoring, we seen successin our students each timethis relationship is built.The students enrolled in thereading mentor programhave shown a 97 percent im-provement and 84 percentimprovement of the stu-dents enrolled in the mathmentor programs. At theend of 2011-12 school year,3,123 30-minute mentor ses-sion have been held to as-sist about 200 total studentsin need. Every year, we hosta Mentor Appreciation Din-ner and ask the mentorswhat do they enjoy abouthelping a student. The re-sponse is “it has been one ofthe most rewarding times ofthe week to be able to helpthat child.”

Robert Loeb is one of ourmentors. He is a local busi-ness leader who has been amentor for several years. Atthe beginning of the schoolyear, the Mentor MasterTeacher approached Robertand said, “I have a chal-lenge for you this year.”Robert smiled and replied,“Bring it on.” the MentorMaster Teacher told Robertabout a young child whohad a very rough life. Hismom passed away when hewas very young, and his fa-ther was in and out of jail.

The child was starting tomake some bad decisions,and he was placed in thementor program to try toredirect him. So Robert be-gan meeting with this child,who was very distant withRobert, but showed up ev-ery week right on time. Oneday, the teacher looked overand Robert was showingthe student how to tie a tie.When Robert came back tomentor the student a coupleof weeks later, he discov-ered the child had madesome bad decisions andsubsequently was disci-plined by school officials.

One Monday, The MentorMaster Teacher came to hisclassroom early in themorning and there was thestudent. He looked a littleanxious and asked theteacher, “Was Robert madat me for getting into trou-ble?” This child had no oneto care that he had been introuble except for his men-tor, Robert. This child is anexample of how a “onceweekly session for 30 min-utes” can have such an im-pact on a child’s academicaccomplishments.

Be a mentor and helpchange ONE child’s life. Tovolunteer, you can callVBEC at 361-572-8232 or goto the website for more in-formation at vbectx.org.

Lanell Mantey is execu-tive director of VictoriaBusiness and EducationCoalition. Email her [email protected]

To David in Cuero: Youhave no idea what Mitt Rom-ney can do for the U.S.A. inthe next four years. We allknow what Obama has donefor American in three and ahalf years. We cannot affordanother four years of this.

David, Victoria

Sarah Ramos and Mr.Howard, of Yorktown, areboth off target because theKarankawa, Tonkawa,Apache and Comancheowned this land a long timebefore the Spaniards everset foot on it.

Frank, Olivia

I think the decision againstLance Armstrong is just awitch hunt. He took morethan 500 drug tests andpassed every single one.

And even if hewas doingsomething ille-gal, I think thathe is intelligentenough to do itwhere no onewould see him.It is easy forthese otherpeople to startrumors.

Dorothy, Victoria

The puzzle of life: Thiscomment is for atheists tothink about. Life is so com-plex and you still believethat life began by chance.Well it couldn’t have hap-pened that way. For exam-ple, take a jigsaw puzzle anddump it out on the table. Nomatter how many times youdump it out, it will never putitself together by chance.Life is like a puzzle. It has tobe put together.

Marvin, Bay City

fter a long wait and lotsof work, Victoria’s Cater-pillar plant is finallyopen. The plant was al-ready starting production

before the official opening ceremo-ny on Aug. 23. And now that theformalities and pleasantries aredone, we are excited to see Cater-pillar is up and working in earnest.

The grand opening ceremonywas an exciting event, with morethan 550 in attendance, includinglocal officials, company executivesand even state Rep. Geanie Morri-son and Gov. Rick Perry.

The plant currently employsabout 200 people, but hopes tohave more than 250 employees bythe end of the year and 800 by2015. That is an exciting numberand we hope to see plenty ofCrossroads residents take advan-tage of this opportunity.

Caterpillar chose Victoria as thehome for their excavator plant formany reasons, including Victoria’seducational facilities and the op-portunity to raise up a local-ly-trained workforce to meet theplant’s needs. We are proud tohave two upstanding higher educa-

tion providers such as VictoriaCollege and University of Hous-ton-Victoria in our community andthank them for their part in bring-ing Caterpillar to town. We arelooking forward to seeing VictoriaCollege’s Emerging TechnologyCenter and the opportunities thatwill come from offering specializedtraining for the area’s workforce.With a training facility this big inthe works, who knows what othercompanies could join Caterpillar intheir search for the perfect homefor future growth.

According to Doug Oberhelman,

Caterpillar’s chairman and CEO,the opening of Victoria’s plant willput the company in a position tobegin to lead the business world-wide. We are honored that Cater-pillar chose Victoria to be thehome of such an important ratio oftheir production and we hope ourcity and the Crossroads will proveup to the task of helping the plantto succeed. As Oberhelman said atthe opening ceremony, companiestoday need help from the govern-ment and individuals to keep themarket competitive. And we ap-plaud Victoria’s government from

both the city and county levels fortheir willingness to invest in thismajor economic development.

But most of all, we want to wel-come Caterpillar to Victoria. Weare proud to see the long-antici-pated excavator plant finally, offi-cially opened, and we hope to seea long future of production andeconomic growth. We hope this isthe first of many more partner-ships to come.





■ Topic: Caterpillar plant grand opening ■ Our View: Looking forward to seeing company prosper as part of community

F R O M U S

We want your letters because we value your opinion onissues in the community and region. We have few re-quirements and will help you meet these if needed.We will need your name, home address and daytime tele-phone or cell phone number so we can contact you to verifyyou want your opinion published.


Our letter lengths are 150 words for thank-yous, 200 wordsfor election-related letters and 350 words for all others. Weask that letter writers submit one letter per 30-day period.Letters may be delivered at the Advocate, 311 E. ConstitutionSt.; mailed to P.O. Box 1518, Victoria 77902; faxed to361-574-1220; or emailed to [email protected].

But while he thought on these things,behold, the angel of the Lord appearedunto him in a dream, saying, Joseph,

thou son of David, fear not to takeunto thee Mary thy wife: for that

which is conceived in her is of theHoly Ghost.Matthew 1:20

“I have never been able to conceive howany rational being could propose happi-

ness to himself from the exercise of powerover others.”

Thomas Jefferson,3rd U.S. President


F R O M Y O U

Light Uponthe Lilies

The morning light shinesUpon the lilies fair.White, yellow, orange –And array of colorsIn the light of the morn.Sr. Frances Cabrini Janvier,

Victoria


F R O M O T H E R S


Thank you for choosing Victoria for plant

Comments about immigrants are wrong

Editor, the Advocate:I know Mr. Joseph Paul “Pat” Petrisky to be an educated

and intelligent person. However, he got it wrong when hecompared the accident that occurred near Goliad/Berclair(Letters to the Editor on Aug. 21) to what might happen toa person trespassing in Area 51. That analogy can best becompared to a person jumping the fence and trespassingon White House property – the intrusion will be dealt withimmediately and forcefully and any threat, whether real orpresumed real, eliminated by any means necessary.

The people that died in the wreck did not die because theywere in the U.S. illegally. They died because they were vic-tims of a terrible traffic accident. Many factors contributedto the accident, but it was an accident just the same. There-fore “accident victims” is appropriate.

Before passing judgment, let’s remember that they weremembers of the human race and children of God. I’m surethe Almighty will not attach a label to them when theystand before Him and neither should any person on thisearth.

Jose Contreras Jr., Victoria

Mentoring can make a difference for local kids

W

A

LANELLMANTEY


opinion.













Thank you for help with group’s fundraiser

Editor, the Advocate:The Concerned Citizens for the Safety and Health of Vic-

toria wish to thank all the people who helped, mainly theowners of Club Westerner, the Majestics and the peoplewho helped organize and worked in making our fundraisera huge success. Also, thanks to all who attended, those whogave from their heart and to all the speakers. Specialthanks to my wife, Emily.

The Concerned Citizens are not funded by taxpayers’money to pay for our legal defense. We have fought a goodfight for three years, and we will continue as long as ourLord wants us to go.

I also want to congratulate all the Hispanics who did notwin their races to represent Victoria. We do not consideryou as losers. We want to thank you for running for office.We consider you leaders of our community. Our congratula-tions go to Annie Ramos, Chris Rivera and Gabriel Solis.We need you to keep working for our community.

To Mr. Frank Salazar, you didn’t fall down; you werepushed down. We still support you. We consider you one ofour leaders.

Henry Perez, Victoria

Callers talk aboutLance Armstrong, more

Y O U R V O I C E S

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VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Thursday, August 30, 2012 — B5VictoriaAdvocate.com

I would like to know whythe apartment rents are sohigh in this city. Victoriadoes not pay their peopleenough to afford an apart-ment that is $1,600 a month.And I think that it is ridicu-lous that just because Cater-pillar and the oil and gaspeople are coming to townthat they are raising therent when the people thatalready live here can’t affordto pay for an apartment tobegin with. I think it is crazy.

Kim, Victoria

Thank you Gayle. Theproblem with Fox News isthat its viewers are consis-tently misinformed.

Beatrice, Port Lavaca

Quincy, you had betterwake up. Man, smell the ros-es. Fox News lies about ev-erything. MSNBC is the onlynews channel that gives youthe accurate news.

B.J., Port Lavaca

I am just responding to MayMike and Quincy’s call in thepaper today. Take a look at the

fact, $716 billionis not takenaway fromMedicare. Theyare actuallygetting it fromthe insurancecompanies andfraud wastingabuse. And alsoQuincy, if youreally think that

Fox News is fair and bal-anced, I have some oceanside property in Arizona that Iwould like to sell to you.

Shawn, Victoria

Regarding Union PacificRailroad: Sixteen monthsand counting, that is howlong you have left your rot-ting ties in the ditches inVictoria County. Ronald Rea-gan would have said it thisway: Mr. Union Pacific, cleanup your trash.

Ray, Victoria

Police and firemen shouldbe at the top of the list inthe salaries. They are pro-tecting us every day withtheir lives. Also, the militaryshould be tops in theirsalary. And all of themshould be able to vote first.

June, Victoria

’ve known somethings about mylife since I was oldenough to remem-ber.

I’ve always known I wouldbe married and have chil-dren. I’ve always knownthat my husband would beolder and taller than me.And I’ve always known thatI would go to college. Notjust any college. I knew Iwas going to go to BaylorUniversity, just like my par-ents and grandparents be-fore me. Even when I wasgrowing up in North Caroli-na and everyone was talk-ing about Duke orUNC-Chapel Hill, I some-how knew Baylor waswhere I was meant to go.Maybe it was the passionmy parents had for their al-ma mater. Whatever thereason, when I reached mysenior year of high school inSan Antonio, graduatingninth in my class, I only ap-plied to one school, and Igot in.

Education has alwaysbeen a priority in my family.My parents taught me to bedriven and work to be thebest I can be. They alwaysencouraged me, pushed meand supported me. As Igrew and matured, I startedto understand how impor-tant education is andhunger for knowledge. I wasthe typical smart kid. I was

inquisitive, anavid reader,the “goodgirl,” theteacher’s pet,the choirnerd and thegeek with anoveractiveimagination.Lookingback, I really haven’tchanged all that much.

It was an amazing,eye-opening experiencewhen I moved to Victoria al-most five years ago. I was acollege-educated youngwoman in my first real jobsince graduating. I had nodelusions about going outand changing the world, butI did want to make a differ-ence wherever I was. Ofcourse, going to an expen-sive school like Baylor, thenbecoming a journalistmeant things were verytight financially for a fewyears, and I did some sub-stitute teaching to fill thegaps left by student loans.That’s when I really beganto understand how impor-tant education is, and howmany children don’t under-stand that.

There were good days andbad days. Typically, I taughtclasses filled with childrenwho wanted to learn. Theywere smart, they knew itand were willing to stretchthemselves. Teaching them

was a fun experience and Icame home feeling like I ac-complished something thatday. But there were otherclasses where the kids justdidn’t seem to care. It wasso alien to everything I hadever known or thought. Howcould they not understandhow smart they were? Howcould they not see how funlearning could be or howimportant it was? I did mybest to teach them with theone or two days I had. Itried to plant a seed of cu-riosity in their little minds.But I also knew, more oftenthan not, that just one dayof encouraging them to dosomething they didn’t careabout wasn’t going tochange much. On thosedays, I felt exhausted anddepressed, like I’d beenpulling a heavy weight allday and only moved a fewinches.

My heart hurt for thesekids. I knew they will morethan likely miss out on somany chances for successbecause of their attitudesand lack of understanding.Often, I wished I could havelooked into the future andshown them where theycould be, if they would justtry. It is so important tomake this impression onthem while they are stillyoung and able to devotetime to school. If we waituntil they are adults, so

much time has been wast-ed.

Every person follows theirown path through life. Andwe all face barriers. Butthere are some skills wecan pick up along the wayto help us overcome theseobstacles. That is why edu-cation is so crucial. We livein a world where just hav-ing a high school equiva-lence will give people an ad-vantage. College is not foreveryone, but those whodon’t want to go to collegestill need training for what-ever career they choose.

That’s why I am excited totake part in the Victoria Ad-vocate’s “A CommunityCommitment” educationproject. In this project, wehope to tell the stories ofthose whose lives werechanged by education andfind ways to encourage oth-ers to invest in their futuresby embracing education.

With the right education,anyone can find success,but first we have to teachpeople, starting when theyare children, how importanttheir education is. Untilthey understand that, we’rewasting time.

Lauren Hightow-er-Emerson is the com-munity conversation ed-itor for the Victoria Ad-vocate. Email her [email protected].

ypically, Labor Day isassociated with the an-ticipation of cooler tem-peratures, a time to cutback on wearing white,

and most importantly, givingworking people a break from thedaily grind.

And while people enjoy theirlong weekend, perhaps with a bar-becue, taking a trip or just relax-ing at home, we hope residentswill remember to have fun, butstay safe while doing so.

We know Labor Day weekend

tends to be a time for fun and re-laxation, but we also know manypeople include alcohol in that mix.We encourage our readers to beresponsible when drinking thisweekend. The Texas Departmentof Public Safety has announcedplans to have every trooper onstaff working during Labor Dayweekend to cut down on drunkdriving in Texas. And TrooperGerald Bryant said DPS will havea zero-tolerance policy for the of-fence.

The Victoria Police Department

and Victoria County Sheriff ’s Of-fice are planning a similar ap-proach to keep drivers safe thisyear. According to Bryant, therewere no fatal crashes in Victoriaor surrounding counties duringthe 2011 Labor Day weekend, andwe hope to see similar resultsthis year.

According to a Texas Depart-ment of Transportation news re-lease, convicted drunken driverscould spend up to $17,000 for bail,fines, legal fees, court appear-ances, court-ordered classes, in-

surance increases and other ex-penses. Knowing just the mone-tary costs for drunk driving, wehope residents will think twice be-fore getting behind the wheel thisweekend. This total could bemuch worse if the drunk drivingresults in an accident. Thendrivers would face hospital bills,vehicle repairs and possible law-suits from any other victims, aswell as the ultimate loss – a per-son’s life.

Seeing the possible results here,we wonder, is “having a good

time” really worth all this? Wesay no, and we hope others willagree.

So enjoy yourselves this week-end, but please remember to ap-point a designated driver or call acab if you’re going to drink. Itmay be an inconvenience, but atrip to the hospital or going to jailfor hurting someone else is muchworse.





■ Topic: Labor Day weekend ■ Our View: Make sure to be safe while enjoying day off from work

F R O M U S




Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off theprophet Jeremiah's neck, and brake it. And Hananiahspake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thussaith the Lord; Even so will I break the yoke of Neb-

uchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all na-tions within the space of two full years. And the prophet

Jeremiah went his way.Jeremiah 28:10-11

“As the traveler who has lost his way, throws his reins on hishorse's neck, and trusts to the instinct of the animal to find his

road, so must we do with the divine animal who carries usthrough this world.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson,American poet, lecturer and essayist


F R O M Y O U


F R O M O T H E R S


Holiday drinking and driving: Don’t do it!

Obama gave favors to the cooperative states

Editor, the Advocate:While traveling in California this summer, I came upon

several road construction projects funded by the AmericanRecovery & Reinvestment Act (aka stimulus). I don’t re-member seeing similar signs in Texas. My nephew lives inLancaster, California and every public school I saw in thattown had solar panels; also courtesy of the same act. TheObama administration used the stimulus to reward it’s sup-porters and not to stimulate the economy. Large chunks ofthe stimulus went to pay the salaries of teachers, fire fight-ers and police that had gotten sweetheart contracts duringgood times. I think that these workers should be well paidand I am not against collective bargaining. When a govern-ment entity has trouble honoring a labor contract that prob-lem should not require Federal bailout. Such a problem is alocal or state issue and should be handled either by raisinglocal taxes and/or re-negotiating the contracts. Why shoulda taxpayer in West Texas go on the hook for borrowed fed-eral funds for contracts that were too liberal, were signedin California and where the unions refuse to renegotiate?The Obama Administration is borrowing money to pay offits supporters and I am tired of it. President Obama hasbeen running for re-election for three and a half yearsrather than dealing with the economy.

Carleton K. Thompson Jr., Hallettsville

Education is key to finding success in life

I

T

LAURENHIGHTOWER-EMERSON


opinion.













Don’t know what you have until it’s gone

Editor, the Advocate:Our 32-month-old dapple doxie was struck and killed by a

car on Aug. 22. I didn’t realize what we had until he wasgone. Hug your four-legged friends a little tighter and striveto keep them as safe as possible. I realize the neighbors,cats and squirrels are probably rejoicing. And when itcomes time to adopt again, I’ll strive to give all the love Ican, even if it is a normal puppy.

Kelly Shiller, Bloomington

Callers talk about rentprices, other topics

Y O U R V O I C E S

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VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Friday, August 31, 2012 — B3VictoriaAdvocate.com

Regarding ethanol: I justwanted to let everybodyknow that you can make analcoholic beverage out of it.And that means anythingfrom mustang grapes tosugar cane, you can makeethanol out of it. There is alot of usable material outthere.

Frank, Olivia

Yes, I will be using the newVictoria Airport when and ifit gets started.

Frank, Victoria

Sandra from Yoakumneeds to read the Bible.How can it be a curse whenit is a quote from the word

of God, in ref-erence to thebillboard onNavarro?

Michael, Victoria

In addition toFox News, Iwatch CNN,and CSPAN,particularly

Washington Journal. I do be-lieve that President Obama’shealth care plan is not goodand will result in medical ra-tioning for the elderly basedon age.

Doris, Victoria

No, I have never attendeda high school reunion. Idon’t care to see all thoseold people.

Mary, Port O’Connor

hen I taught highschool in the Vic-toria school dis-trict in the 1950s, Ifaced challenges,

but I suspect I was allowedmuch more freedom thanmy counterparts of today.What was the same,though, was a teacher’s un-shakeable belief that shar-ing knowledge can lead to astudent’s success.

Even though Victoria wasmuch smaller then, I hadstudents at all levels of in-tellectual commitment. Pe-riodic testing (mine, not thestate’s) revealed quicklywho grasped the informa-tion. Throughout the year,the school offered opportu-nities to help those whoneeded to catch up. And, bythe end of the year, I knewfull well who knew the ma-terial and was capable ofmoving on.

I had my own mentor,Miss Margaret Cline, ateacher who had taughtmany years in my subject:

biology. Shenot only knewthe subjectcompletely,but also hadcomplete con-trol of herclasses. Thatmeant the fulltime in the class was a pos-itive learning experience.

That was my goal as well,as a young teacher. I spentmy break time in the teach-ers’ lounge trying to soakup her advice. Her talentsenlightened and enrichedme throughout the year.She made it clear her gen-uine commitment to educat-ing students was not aboutthe pay.

Nonetheless, I stronglybelieve great teachers,those who love the profes-sion, should be paid well sothey will continue in theclassroom. No one is moreimportant to our societythan a great teacher.

My experience in theclassroom also taught me

all studentshave the abili-ty to learn.Many will suc-ceed even be-yond expecta-tions. But of-

tentimes, it takes a wiseand trusted teacher to helprecognize a student inneed.

Since my time in theclassroom, I’ve examinededucation at all levels andfrom various angles. I’vebeen a part of both publiceducation and privateschooling through my owneducation and that of myfour children. All of theseexperiences led me to advo-cate for opportunities for allchildren.

My educational journeybegan as a student in aone-room schoolhouse inPettus before we moved toVictoria. Memorable teach-ers who stand out, evendecades later, made Latincome alive and geometryshapes exciting. They

showed me what talentedteachers could make of anysubject.

As a teacher, parent, vol-unteer, private school boardmember and Victoria Col-lege trustee, I have beenexposed to the tremendouschallenges that presentthemselves at each junc-ture. Each of these pointspresents a complicated setof circumstances, followedby possible solutions.

My hope for your Advo-cate’s education project, “ACommunity Commitment,”is modest, yet lofty: Monitorthe course we are taking.Sound a warning whenneeded. And delight incheering successes.

Catherine McHaney isthe secretary/treasurerof the Victoria Advocateand a member of thenewspaper’s steeringcommittee for its educa-tion project. She may bereached at [email protected].

chool is back in sessionand September is here.Everyone knows whatthat means. Football isback for another year of

crushing impacts, Hail Mary pass-es, quarterback sacks and kickoffreturns.

This is Texas, and in Texas, highschool football is king. Texans lovethe rough-and-tumble quality ofthe sport; the blood, sweat andtears of a tough battle for athleticsupremacy. It’s easy to get caughtup in the excitement and emotion

of it all. But despite all thescreaming and cheering that goeson at games, we want to encour-age our readers to remember totreat the players and fans withdignity and respect.

Sportsmanship is an importantquality in athletics and both ath-letes and coaches should keep thisin mind when on the field. Accord-ing to kidshealth.org, sportsman-ship is defined by: playing fair, fol-lowing the rules of the game, re-specting the judgment of refereesand officials and treating oppo-

nents with respect. Many see it asa sports version of the GoldenRule. Treat the opposing team theway you would like to be treated.

But this does not only apply toathletes and coaches. We also in-clude the fans in this appeal. Weunderstand that emotions runhigh when watching a game, andfans are expected to cheer andshout at the top of their lungs. Butwe hope fans will show respect toeach other and the opposingteam’s athletes and fans as well.By showing courtesy to others,

parents and families will be a goodexample for their children andfriends.

High school games are aboutmore than winning. They areabout coming together as a com-munity to enjoy friendly competi-tion and share school spirit. Foot-ball is a competitive sport, butcompetitive is not the same ascut-throat. Competition is not justa way for opposing teams to deter-mine who is the best. The playersalso hone their skills by competingagainst other teams. Because of

this, win or lose, both sides de-serve to be treated with dignityand respect, and we encourageour readers to keep this in mindas they attend area footballgames.

So please, as you enjoy this sea-son, remember to show goodsportsmanship. The games will bea lot more fun for everyone, if youdo.





■ Topic: High school football ■ Our View: Please be courteous and respectful while enjoying the season

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Then the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah theprophet, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken theyoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Thouhast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for

them yokes of iron.Jeremiah 28:12-13

“No-one gets an iron-clad guarantee of success. Certainly,factors like opportunity, luck and timing are important. But the

backbone of success is usually found in old-fashioned, basicconcepts like hard work, determination, good planning and

perseverance.”Mia Hamm,

American female soccer player


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F R O M O T H E R S


Sportsmanship is important part of game

Highway underpass needs another traffic signal

Editor, the Advocate:With the accident that occurred last week at the intersec-

tion of Nursery Drive and Loop 463 that injured many, andwith school at Victoria West High School beginning, the cityneeds to address a potential traffic hazard: that being thewestbound traffic on the access road of Loop 463 rushes tothe red light at Cuero highway, blocking southbound accessfrom Nursery Drive that is crossing to go under the Loop463 underpass and head east on Loop 463. Some traffic, be-ing polite, will not block this intersection, yet half or morecrowds forward, thus confusing any southbound NurseryDrive drivers, who then wonder, is it safe for me to crossthree lanes of traffic so that I can go under the overpass?As soon as the driver starts forward, unbeknownst to thedriver, comes someone not paying attention to any crossingtraffic, and thus causing a possible accident with the carcrossing through the three lanes of traffic.

I suggest that a flashing yellow light be posted at the in-tersection of the Loop 463 access road and Nursery Driveand also that signs be posted for stopped traffic not to blockthe intersection, relieving congested traffic coming fromthe high school on Nursery Drive and allowing them tocross unimpeded.

Barbara Mickan, Victoria

Teachers are leaders for success in education

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opinion.













Callers talk aboutpolitics, other topics

Thanks for helping Quail Creek Fire Department

Editor, the Advocate:The Quail Creek Volunteer Fire Department would like to

thank everyone that helped in making our recent BBQCook-off a success. This includes prize money donationsfrom many businesses, volunteer judges, everyone that pur-chased raffle tickets, and the BBQ teams that participatedin this event. Your support enables our department to con-tinue to respond to emergencies in our district.

Quail Creek Volunteer Fire Department members, Victoria

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What’s wrong with saying abortion is wrong?

Editor, the Advocate:I read that Rep. Todd Akin made a very bad statement

about women.However, the response from the Democrats was not only

that he was wrong about what he said, but that it showedhis opposition to abortion in all cases. Well, I am sorry, butwhat is wrong with opposition to abortion in all cases?Nothing. So on that point, I agree with Mr. Akin.

Diane Faxlanger, Victoria

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I feel the highest speed al-lowed on an interstate or tollroad should be 70 miles perhour. I feel that the higherthe speed, the greaterchance of a fatal accident.

Dorothy, Victoria

You can bet that whateverthe posted speed limit is,there will be those who willwant to go faster and speed.


In Obama’s speeches, hehas said that he wants tofundamentally changeAmerica. Look up funda-mental. He also said hewants to rebuild Americafrom the ground up. Now hesays that he wants to takeus down a new path. Thepath that we have been onfor the last 200 years hastaken us to many greatplaces. Let’s not changeAmerica into something thatwe don’t recognize.

Marvin, Bay City

I would like for James to un-derstand that nobody is wor-

ried about peo-ple being rich.It is when theyare so tight thatthey want tocheat the gov-ernment andthey don’t careto help thesmall peoplethat makesthem mad.

Romney is not going to helpanyone in this country. Helpthem get along and get a job.He doesn’t care about them.

B.W., Port Lavaca

I don’t believe that weneed immigrants orrefugees from any foreigncountry in America chasingthe American dream ofhope, peace and prosperity.We have enough Americansof our own doing that.


That story about grandpar-ents raising their grandchil-dren in Saturday’s Advocatewas kinda incomplete. Itnever gave an explanationas to why grandparentshave to raise their grand-children.

James, Yoakum

ot long ago, Ispent an extendedweekend with twopreschoolers.Over the course of

three days, I taught thechildren to play Go Fish andSlap Jack while they taughtme to play Angry Birds andto download free princessapplications on my iPad.

Their mother warned menot to let them see me inputmy user name and pass-word in any application, ormy password protectionwould be null and void. Tosay that I was amazed atthe comfort and ease withwhich these children ma-neuvered from applicationto application on my iPadand smart phone is an un-derstatement. The experi-ences of that weekend havesince made me pay closerattention to the interactionsI see daily between childrenand technology. From the10-month-old baby on theplane listening to animalsounds on her mother’siPhone to the 6-year-oldwatching Shrek 3 on a DVDplayer during a family din-ner at Cracker Barrel,these interactions are nothard to spot.

I have always supportedthe use of technology withyoung children. As a publicschool kindergarten teacherback in the late 1980s, Iwrote a grant to Apple com-puters and was the first

teacher in theschool to havea classroomcomputer forthe children touse. Technolo-gy is verymuch a part ofour lives inthe here and now, and willbe increasingly a part of ourlives in the future. It is im-portant that children learnto appropriately access anduse technology. The keyword here is appropriately.We want children to seetechnology as a tool for en-riching their futures and wewant them to use technolo-gy to their benefit, ratherthan for their detriment.

“Screen time” is the termused to describe the collec-tive time children spend en-gaging with various technol-ogy devices, including TVs,computers, DVD players,smart phones and tablet de-vices. Current studies indi-cate that American childrenunder the age of 2 have, onaverage, more than twohours every day of screentime and most preschoolershave even more. This isproblematic. During thepreschool years, the prima-ry developmental task forchildren is to learn to inter-act positively with others bycontrolling their behaviorsand emotions and by usinglanguage to communicate.Considering that children

under the ageof 2 sleep for12-16 hours ofevery 24, twohours is alarge chunk oftheir day.

Playing Angry Birds andwatching Shrek 3 does notcontribute to their develop-ment in any way and, infact, undermines it in somevery real ways.

The National Associationfor the Education of YoungChildren and the FredRogers Center for EarlyLearning and Children’sMedia have issued a posi-tion statement titled “Tech-nology and Interactive Me-dia as Tools in Early Child-hood Programs ServingChildren from Birth throughAge Eight.” This statementrecommends that for chil-dren younger than age two,screen time should be limit-ed to that which will supportand encourage the child’sinteractions with lovingadults. Skyping with a par-ent deployed overseas, read-ing a story on Kindle withGrandma, identifying elec-tronic photos of family mem-bers on the computer –these are examples of tech-nology interactions that sup-port the development of chil-dren under the age of two.

The position statementfurther encourages parentsand teachers to ensure thattechnology interactions for

children between the agesof 3 and 5 years arenon-passive and supportiveof social relationships andthat daily screen time, in-cluding television viewing,is less than two hours.Draw and paint programsand word-processing pro-grams that encourage chil-dren to think originally arestrongly recommended forpreschoolers, while videogames are strongly discour-aged. Indeed, the researchon video games for youngchildren is alarming, identi-fying negative effects on re-lationships with peers, par-ents, and teachers.

Children are a blessing,but, as any parent knows,they are also a responsibili-ty. As parents and teachers,it is important that wemake informed decisionsabout the ways in which ourchildren interact with tech-nology. I encourage you toread the position statementat NAEYC.org and to care-fully consider your child’sscreen time. Make sure thattechnology is supportingyour child’s future and notjust occupying time in thepresent.

Jill Englebright Fox,Ph.D., is a professor ofEarly Childhood Educa-tion at the University ofHouston-Victoria Schoolof Education and Hu-man Development.

he Crossroads holds arich history. Not just inour Spanish missionsand historic areas of thevarious towns. Tucked

away in different corners of theCrossroads are bits and pieces ofTexas history that should be val-ued and preserved.

One of these special places isHebron Baptist Church inYoakum, which celebrated 160years in the ministry this past

weekend. The church was foundedin 1852 by settlers who came tothe area via wagon train. Thebuilding was originally a one-roombuilding made of logs with split logbenches. Today, the church is aTexas Historical Marker.

We are impressed to see thissmall church has survivedthrough all of the trials and tribu-lations of the past 160 years. Thegenerations of this congregationhave endured the Civil War, the

Great Depression, both WorldWars and countless other toughtimes both nationally and locally.And through it all, as evidenced bythe many stories we were told byformer members, the congrega-tion pulled together and helpedeach other to survive whatevercame their way.

We applaud the church membersfor their commitment to each oth-er and to their faith. By coming to-gether the way they have and

passing their faith from generationto generation, they are not justpreserving a building or historicallandmark. They are taking care oftheir community and the people,which is what really matters.

Of course, we are happy to seethis historic church still standing,but we are most in awe of thelegacy of love this congregation ispassing from generation to gener-ation, as the stories of love andcare shared by past members

showed us.So we applaud the congregation

of Hebron Baptist Church for itsongoing ministry, the history it hasand protects, and the legacy oflove members are teaching to fu-ture generations. We are glad tosee Texas history protected andembodied in your congregation.





■ Topic: Hebron Baptist Church’s 160th anniversary ■ Our View: Glad to see piece of Texas history still thriving

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And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turnaway your captivity, and I will gather you from all the

nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you,saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place

whence I caused you to be carried away captive. Because yehave said, The Lord hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;

Jeremiah 29:14-15

“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gatherstrength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. Tis the

business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, andwhose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles

unto death.”Thomas Paine,

English-born American writer and political pamphleteer


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Generations-old ministry still going strong

Movie shows what president’s plans are for US

Editor, the Advocate:“2016” is a must see documentary for all who want to

understand this president and his vision for our country. Hisbackground shapes our future. See how his hate of colo-nialism passed down by his father will dictate the directionhe will take America. A more left, liberal, secular, weaker,defenseless, financially bankrupt, economically crippled, di-visive, socialist America that will be well positioned for ourenemies to pounce on. That is the promise of 2016- it’smessage is not delivered “in between the lines.” The Pres-ident has been caught on open microphone promising oth-ers even more of these destructive policies when re-elected.Rabbi, Priest, Pastor, preach to the people these truths: Apresidency that promotes abortion as birth control, samesex marriage, failure to acknowledge God or support Israelseeks another term. As persons of faith, do we not heed thewarning of Genesis 12:3? We are endowed by our Creator,Mr. President. If we are not a nation under God, we are anation under. It’s your vote. “2016” is now showing in Vic-toria. Don’t miss it.

Nanette Foster, Victoria

Screen time and what it means for children

N

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JILLFOX


opinion.













Callers talk aboutspeed limits, more

President says he has goals, but what is plan?

Editor, the Advocate:While members of the DNC cheered President Obama on,

I was reminded of the hype of four years ago. This charis-matic man stood before them and us “promising” goals forthe future but never telling us how those goals were goingto be reached. We can set all the goals in the world, but ifwe don’t plan to reach them, that is all they are – just goals.Every time he would state a plan to create jobs, expandemployment opportunities, better our economy or help se-nior citizens with health care, I would ask, “How?” but theanswers never came. What are the steps he is going to taketo reach the goals he set out to the nation in his address?Or, will it be another four years of the mess we’re in? “For-ward” to what?

Barbara Yanta, Victoria

Y O U R V O I C E S

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Locally owned since 1846Tuesday, September 11, 2012 75¢

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574-1200To report news:

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LOCAL EDITOR: BECKY COOPER, [email protected], PRESENTATION EDITOR: KIMIKO FIEG, [email protected], PAGE DESIGNER: LUIS RENDON, [email protected], COPY EDITOR: TONY BALANDRAN, [email protected]

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Servicedelayeduntil nextmonthBY MELISSA [email protected]

Commercial air service to Houston fromVictoria will start later than anticipated.

Victoria Regional Airport Manager JasonMilewski said the new start date for Sun AirInternational, Victoria’s new air carrier, isOct. 1, pushed back two weeks from theSept. 17 estimated date.

Milewski spoke during the Victoria CountyCommissioners meeting Monday, updatingthe court on changes.

He said the later date is “just part of theprocess,” and he hopes details regardingbooking and traveling are finalized by theweek’s end.

“They’re looking forward very much tostarting Oct. 1,” Milewski said.

Pinnacle Airlines Corp., parent companyto Victoria’s former carrier, Colgan Air, an-nounced in March plans to pull essential airservice from Victoria.

Although the plan called for flights to con-tinue until a replacement was up, the com-pany discontinued service June 30.

The airport commission selected Sun Airin mid-June.

Sun Air will make four daily flights be-tween Victoria and Houston’s Bush Inter-continental Airport. Tickets will range from$29 to $69 each way.

AIRPORT

EDUCATION

167TH YEAR NO. 127, 20 PAGES, ©2012, VICTORIA ADVOCATE PUBLISHING CO.

BY CAMILLE M. [email protected]

Karen Burleson gazed outside her win-dowsill on a sun-filled and calm Tuesdaymorning 11 years ago.

The 65-year-old Goliad resident’s dreamsof serenity were shattered when terroristsattacked the United States.

At that moment on Sept. 11, she realizedlife would never be the same for the nationshe calls home. The warm, fuzzy feeling of

security vanished as fast as the blink of aneye.

“That whole day, we were all afraid, youdidn’t know what was going to happen next,”she said.

The retired teacher took a lesson in herown page book to express herself throughthree paintings, merged into one throughthe eyes of her kitchen window. Each one

MEMORIAL

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MORGAN WALKER/MWALKER @VICAD.COMKaren Burleson, of Goliad, has painted a special tribute to the 9/11 victims, which will be displayed at the Victoria ArtLeague through Oct. 13. Burleson, who is the Art League’s September artist of the month, created these paintings becauseshe was looking outside her window when she learned about the attacks. Each photo represents the mood throughout theday. The first at 7:15 a.m. The second at noon, and the third at 6:20 p.m., when Burleson said, “Everyone was patriotic andemotional for their country.”

Former VISD art teacher creates 9/11 images Memorialstripped ofpoliticalspeeches,A3

Residentsshare howtheyremember,B4

SEE BURLESON, A4

PORTRAITof patriotism

AUTHOR STEVE TOMASULA KICKS OFF UHV’S AMERICAN BOOKREVIEW FALL SERIES, CROSSROADS, B1

YY OO UU RR SS TT OO RR II EE SS

Project Pink: Honoring cancer survivorsWe want to hear your stories

or the story of a friend orfamily member who has sur-vived cancer. Please uploadyour photo and story to YourPhotos at VictoriaAdvo-cate.com; pick category “Pro-ject Pink.” You also may mailto Victoria Advocate, Atten-tion Project Pink, P.O. Box1518, Victoria, Texas 77901 orhand deliver your submissionto the newsroom at 311 E.Constitution St. Please in-clude a daytime phone num-ber so we may call to get moreinformation if necessary. Sub-mission deadline is 5 p.m.Monday, Oct. 1.

Studentsshare talesof success

BY CAROLINA [email protected]

Allie Adams had a lot on her mind as shewalked up to the lectern Monday night.

In front of about 100 community membersand Victoria school district staff members,the 17-year-old shared her tumultuous fam-ily history to illustrate how much teachershave changed her life for the better.

Allie’s mother moved out when she was 4years old.

“I can’t really remember why,” Allie said.At one point Allie tried living with her

Community gathers to talkabout ways to keep kids inschool, lower dropout rate

SEE VISD, A4

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A4 — VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Tuesday, September 11, 2012 VictoriaAdvocate.com

represents her feelings asthe hands of time changed.

The Victoria Art League se-lected the award-winningartist to commemorate the11th anniversary of the 9/11attacks.

Burleson looked at the paintcan half-full, even in the lightof tragedy.

“We were a united people,”she said. “It’s sad that ittakes a war or something likethis to pull us together.”

Burleson used a woodenblind with a canvas backingto merge the paintings intoone with one twist. A calen-dar, candlesticks, coffee mug,hummingbird figurine, apple,and alarm clock were all intact at daybreak, but arescattered in the noon hour todisplay the chaos and trau-ma.

The portrait later becomesred, white and blue in theevening to evoke a feeling ofpatriotism.

Bill Bauer, president of theart league, describedBurleson’s work as amazingand pleasing the palette.

“The public would enjoythis,” Bauer said.

Bauer and Burlesonworked together in the Victo-ria school district for 27years. The two former col-leagues blended well togeth-er. Bauer focused on pottery;Burleson taught drawing,painting and design.

Although the grandmotherof three hung up her apron inthe classroom, her love for artremains. She entered almostevery possible contest be-cause she could devote more

time to herself and won an“On My Own Time” exhibit.

In 2011, she helped 50 chil-dren make spirit posters forAnthony Pedone’s film,“Roundball.”

The 42-year-old filmmakersaid Burleson was a tough,but caring teacher.

Pedone, a self-proclaimed

teenage rebel, was excited towork again with his teacher.He described the reunion asmagical.

“I was able to show her thatI could focus on something,”he said.

The former art student saidBurleson pushed him to suc-ceed.

“She wanted to bring thebest out of me creatively andnot settle for mediocrity,” hesaid.

Although the former Victo-ria High School instructorencouraged students for aquarter of a century,Burleson learned lessons ofcreativity from her mother,

Marjorie Maxine.The featured artist also will

display work inspired in lov-ing honor of her mother dur-ing her birth month.

Burleson stored the WorldTrade Center and Pentagonattacks into her mentalRolodex, as she had with theOklahoma City bombings and

the assassination of Presi-dent John F. Kennedy. Thosedays were watermarked inher mind.

She felt compelled to paytribute to those who died, butshe let the paintbrush speakfor her.

“Writers have words; artistshave symbols,” she said.

CO VER S T OR I ESPAGE DESIGNER: LUIS RENDON, [email protected], COPY EDITOR: TONYBALANDRAN, [email protected]

CONTINUED FROM A1

BURLESON: ‘It’s sad that it takes a war or something like this to pull us together’

MORGAN WALKER/ MWALKER@ VICAD.COMArtist Karen Burleson painted a three-panel tribute to the 9-11 attack. This panel represents the mood of the nation at 6:20 that evening whenBurleson says, “everyone was patriotic and emotional for their country.” Her artwork remains on display at the Victoria Art League through Oct. 14.

mom again – but because ofan inconsistent environment

she movedin with hergrandmoth-er to getthroughmiddleschool.

And at thebeginning ofher fresh-man year atVictoria

East High School, her moth-er tried to get her to moveback in.

“I couldn’t do it. I refused,”

Allie said. “I did everything inmy power to stay with mygrandmother.”

The junior credits the sup-port fromher middleand highschoolteachers forthe strengthshe neededto stand herground.

“We haveamazingteachers

who understand what we’regoing through,” Allie said.“Mrs. Pam Edge was a moti-vator for not only me, but a lot

CONTINUED FROM A1

VISD: ‘I’ve spoken with students who work close to 40 hours a week,’ says Miss Victoria

IF YOU JOINAt the meeting Monday night, seven different committees invitedthe public to join their efforts to reduce the dropout rate in theVictoria school district.Communication and PartnershipsWHERE: Chili’s, 5004 North Navarro St.WHEN: 5:30 p.m., Oct. 4Character EducationWHERE: Victoria West High School library, 307 W. Tropical DrWHEN: 5:30 p.m., Oct. 9Mentoring/Support ServicesWHERE: Victoria West High School library, 307 W. Tropical DrWHEN: 6:30 p.m., Oct. 17Compulsory Attendance SupportWHERE: Victoria East High School library, 4103 E. MockingbirdLn.WHEN: 5:30 p.m., Oct. 9Educational Awareness for ParentsWHERE: Victoria East High School library, 4103 E. MockingbirdLn.WHEN: 5:30 p.m., Oct. 9School ImprovementWHERE: Johnny Carino’s, 4904 North Navarro St.WHEN: 5:30 p.m., Oct. 16Career PreparationWHERE: Career and Technical Institute, 104 Profit DriveWHEN: 4:30 p.m., Sept. 19

of students.”In the auditorium Monday

night, Allie’s speech was re-ceived with a standing ova-

tion.The public

had gath-ered to workon a plan toreduce thedropout rateand improveattendanceat VISDschools.

For thepast 10 years, attendance hasbeen under 95 percent andpales in comparison to other

school districts, includingCalhoun, Lukfin and Seguin.

At the first meeting of thisseries, a state demographerpresented the district withnumbers that projected a dimeconomic outlook for Victoriaif the dropout rate and low at-tendance numbers continue.

This projection spurred theformation of seven focusgroups dedicated to reducingthe rate.

The groups divided by sec-tions are: communicationand partnerships, charactereducation, mentoring/sup-port services, compulsory at-tendance support, education-

al awareness for parents,school improvement and ca-reer preparation.

Victoria East High SchoolAssistant Principal Reymun-do Gomez took a phone callduring his presentation todemonstrate how easy it isfor kids to be distracted withtechnology.

“There’s a lot of supportavailable here in the commu-nity,” Gomez said. “There’ssomething important at stakehere.”

Other students that tookthe lectern were Jake Flores,a recent graduate from Lib-erty Academy, and Bethany

Garza, as also known as MissVictoria.

“The majority of absenteestudents are workers,” Garzasaid. “I’ve spoken with stu-dents who work close to 40hours a week.”

Parents and school boardmembers all agreed that themain bulk of the studentsmissing school are thoseworking long hours to helptheir families pay bills.

“There is a good work ethicin this town and kids see theneed to make money earlierthan they need to,” saidschool board member LouSvetlik.

Adams Garza Flores

IF YOU GO:■ WHEN: 1-5 p.m.Tuesday throughSaturday up to Oct.13

■ WHERE: VictoriaArt League, 905 S.Bridge St., Victoria

■ HOW MUCH: Free■ TO LEARN MORE:Visit Victoria ArtLeague’s Facebookpage or call361-572-0825.

9/11TRIBUTE■ WHO: VictoriaPolice Department,Victoria FireDepartment,Victoria CountySheriff’s Office

■ WHAT: 9/11RemembranceProgram

■ WHEN: 8 a.m.,Tuesday

■ WHERE: DeLeonPlaza

■ ADMISSION: Free

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VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Wednesday, September 12, 2012 — B5VictoriaAdvocate.com

Rosalee, Republican womendon’t think like women, theythink like Republican men.

Beatrice, Port Lavaca

Religion does not play apart in how I vote for thepresidential candidate orany other race. I vote on theman who I think is the bestcandidate, who will do thebest job for the people. Reli-gion plays no part in my wayof thinking.

Ray, El Campo

Thumbs-up to MaynardScott, whose house burneddown, for not asking for theRed Cross. People whosehouses burn down and don’t

have insur-ance, that isthe first thingthat they askfor. I wish himthe best of luckand I plan tomake a dona-tion to him,since he issuch a niceman.

Gay, Victoria

The religion of the presi-dential candidate should af-fect anyone’s vote. I don’tthink that the common manshould be able to make thedecision on what religion thecandidate is. They are tryingvery hard to separate thegovernment and the churchto begin with.


e need to be do-ing more as par-ents and commu-nity members tofight for the

strength of our publicschool system. We could fo-cus narrowly on Victoria,but all of Texas needs ourattention. We won’t belaborhow much funding or howmany programs have beencut; if you are reading this,you are aware of these is-sues. Instead, we will focushere on why we believe thepublic school system is soimportant and what can bedone about supporting it.

1) There is no proven al-ternative to the publicschool system. Studies con-ducted in the U.S. andabroad since 2004 showmixed results in the suc-cess of charter schools – 70percent perform at thesame level or worse thanpublic schools. Unless char-ter schools can be shown tobe superior to public, weshould not abandon thepublic school system.

2) Statistically, Texasranks behind other states ineducation. It is dishearten-ing that only 44 percent ofTexas schools met the ade-quate yearly progress tar-gets set forth in the NoChild Left Behind Act in the2012 report. Regardless ofwhether you agree with thetargets, our progress is dis-mal and continues to de-cline. By recently asking foran exemption to NCLB, weopen the door to positivechange.

Texas publicschool teachersalaries wereranked 31st of50 states in2011 estimates(National Edu-cation Associ-ation), well be-low the national average. Inspending per student, weranked 40th of 50. And ac-cording to The Organizationfor Economic Co-operationand Development 2009 re-port, the U.S. has fallen toaverage in reading and sci-ence, but below average inmath, and ranks overall be-low at least 14 other coun-tries. Texas is below aver-age in the U.S. and the U.S.is below average in theworld!

3) The emphasis on test-ing is troubling. Of 180 in-structional days in a schoolyear, at least 29 per district– more than 15 percent –are used for testing at aver-age costs of $100 million peryear. Too many accountabil-ity measures rely heavily ontest scores. High-stakestesting has become the ba-sis on which federal sanc-tions and school penaltiesare based. If adequate year-ly progress is not attained,schools face possible sanc-tions up to and includingthe firing of all staff. Othermetrics should also be con-sidered: student improve-ment, ACT/SAT participa-tion and scores, and em-ployer-recognized certifi-cates received from careerand tech courses.

Overprotests andrequests touse the state’s“rainy dayfund,” schoolfunding wassubstantiallycut last yearto balance the budget. Nowthere is a good possibilitythat additional federal fund-ing cuts could be coming in2013; however, Congress didnot also reduce mandatedsocial services and specialprograms required of publicschools. We need to restoreschool funding to reinstateprograms and teachers be-fore the decline in qualitygets worse. Education is aninvestment, not a cost.

4) Most of all, though, it isthat the students of todaywill be leading the countryand making decisions for ustomorrow. It is quite dis-comfiting to consider thatour leaders could be so illprepared for running ourcountry in terms of collegeand career readiness stan-dards.

Not all is wrong, though.The story seems very differ-ent when you turn from thenumbers and talk to ourstudents and educators. In-spirational stories appearedrecently in these pages ofpolitical refugees whose ed-ucation afforded them theopportunity to continue onto college. We see the pridein teachers’ faces as theywelcome students back intoclassrooms after weeks ofpreparation. And we’ve

seen thetenacity of ourlocal adminis-tration inshaping poli-cies that willmake

long-term improvementshere.

We’re lucky to live in acommunity with a dedica-tion to public education. Butwe need to remind our leg-islators that education is apriority for our district andacross the state or progressmight stall.

Two issues we influencewith our voices and votesare testing and funding. Weneed to work with our legis-lators to promote adequatestate funding for publicschools, and changes in thestate’s accountability ratingsystem to make it fairer andless punitive.

If you want to know whatcan be done, hear formereducator Allen Weeks, nowExecutive Director of SaveTexas Schools (STS) shareinformation on STS’ work tobuild support for public edu-cation. Sponsored by anumber of local organiza-tions, this forum will be onSeptember 24 from 5 to 7p.m. at the University ofHouston-Victoria Multipur-pose Room. To RSVP, call361-570-4375.

Kathy Hunt is Presidentof League of Women Vot-ers – Victoria. JenniferFoster is a member ofthe League of WomenVoters-Victoria.

ur history is not some-thing we should takelightly. Who our ances-tors were and the choic-es they made during

their lives helped determine whowe are today.

But often pieces of our historyare left alone and neglected. Butthis was not the case with theMatagorda Island Lighthouse,which has stood on the northernedge of the island since 1852.

The people of Matagorda have

shown their appreciation for thisimportant piece of the island’shistory since its construction. Ithas survived an attempt to blowit up in the Civil War, then a totaldismantling to keep it out ofUnion hands. It was rebuilt afterthe end of the war.

Then in the 1990s, the CoastGuard decided to close the light-house because of budget cuts.But residents worked togetherand gathered enough money toput the lighthouse back to work

in 1999, then fully restored it in2004.

We are impressed to see theresidents of Matagorda Countystepping up to take care of this160-year-old lighthouse. There aremany who might see these effortsas wasted or futile. But we arehappy these people understandthe importance of historicalplaces and what they can teachus.

We would especially like tothank the San Antonio Bay Foun-

dation, which donated $9,000 atthe end of August to help repaintthe lighthouse with a specialblack paint that is designed toprevent rust. We also wish tothank the Guadalupe-Blanco Riv-er Authority and others who con-tributed to the upkeep of thislandmark.

As the people of MatagordaCounty know, taking care of a his-toric site is a continual process,and we hope the community willstill be able to take care of the

lighthouse for future generationsto enjoy and explore. And we en-courage the community to find away to teach the next generationsof the importance of this land-mark to the area’s history. Thelighthouse is not just important topreserve for today. It is also rele-vant to future Texans, and wehope it will be there for them.





■ Topic: Matagorda Island Lighthouse ■ Our View: It’s good to see community protecting landmark

F R O M U S




Now when Jesus was born inBethlehem of Judaea in the days ofHerod the king, behold, there came

wise men from the east toJerusalem, saying, Where is he

that is born King of the Jews? forwe have seen his star in the east,

and are come to worship him.Matthew 2:1-2

“Prosperity is only an instrument tobe used, not a deity to be worshipped.”

Calvin Coolidge,30th President of the United States


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Jubilee DayFive Sisters celebrateservice to the Lord.One, seventy-five years.Four, fifty years.Time glides into eternityWhere one day fades intoa thousand years.Sr. Frances Cabrini Janvier,

Victoria


F R O M O T H E R S


Thank you for working to preserve history

Citizens need to know what is in ConstitutionEditor, the Advocate:

Daniel Webster charged us to defend the Constitution, be-cause if it fails, there will be anarchy throughout the world.Very few people know the simple purpose of the Constitu-tion is to limit the federal government and secure God-giv-en rights to the people. Our founding fathers knew of thedepravity of man and his propensity to abuse power. Thechecks and balances we so shallowly hear about in schoolis more than three branches of government, it also includesthe checks of state sovereignty and the peoples moralityand input.

Referencing the Executive Branch (president), there areonly 12 areas of authority, with three of these overseen orwith the approval of the Senate or House. The only way theExecutive makes laws is by approving the bills presentedby Congress. I do not see any reference to proposing billsto Congress. You may get a different count if you divide thegeneral responsibilities listed.

The Legislative Branch (House and Senate) has 30 areasof responsibility and the only oversight is the veto power ofthe president. Congress is called the Legislative branch, be-cause “ALL” laws originate there. Also, all spending has tobe approved by Congress. Outside of the president’s veto,the intent of the writers was to have the moral and religiouspeople oversee their legislator and the states had oversightof the Senate. This encouraged citizen involvement.

The Judicial Branch (Supreme Court and inferior federalcourts) has oversight of 12 areas, none of which is to makelaws. There also is no explicit statement that they can deemlaws constitutional. These are left to the other branches.

A moral and religious people is what makes our Constitu-tion viable. Sen. Sam Ervin said if people of this capacity donot become active in politics, they doom themselves to badgovernment. The Constitution still works if we use it in it’smoral context to call our elected officials to adherence.That right is spelled out in the First Amendment. Anarchisttactics must be overcome with moral input.

Tony Corte, Victoria

Voters need to take stand for Texas education

W

O

JENNIFERFOSTER


opinion.













Callers talk aboutpolitics, other topics

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Listen to Obama’s words before you voteEditor, the Advocate:

Voters beware, listen closely to Obama’s words. Remem-ber, in 2008 he said “We are five days away from fundamen-tally transforming the United States of America.” His poli-cies and leadership lead to a bleak future for our country.In his acceptance speech this week, he spoke of the needfor “bold, persistent experimentation” if elected to a secondterm. Experimentation? This man’s words cannot be takenlightly. Nor should he be allowed another chance to funda-mentally transform nor to experiment with the UnitedStates of America.

Steve Fiedler, Victoria

KATHYHUNT

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H2 — VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Sunday, September 16, 2012 VictoriaAdvocate.com

he Victoria IndependentSchool District is makingsome changes. We’ve al-ready seen some of the pos-itive effects of these changes

in a tour of Patti Welder Middle Schoolin late August. And now it’s time totalk about what more can be done.

On Sept. 10, VISD hosted a com-munity forum to discuss options toreduce the dropout rate and improvestudent attendance. At this event, stu-dents shared their stories of successdespite tough circumstances.

These stories were encouraging tohear, but the truth is, there is still a lotof work to be done. According to DianeBoyett, district communications direc-tor, VISD serves about 14,500 studentsand has about 1,000 teachers. That’san overall student-to-teacher ratio of14.5:1. And in many cases, Boyett said,some classes, such as Special Edu-cation, have smaller ratios while oth-ers have larger classes.

Obviously, the teachers are outnum-bered, and if we truly want to see animprovement, the community needs tostep up to provide reinforcements.

During the community meeting, thedistrict introduced the formation ofseven focus groups aimed at reducingthe dropout rate and improving at-tendance in VISD. These groups aredivided into sections, which are: com-munication and partnerships, charac-ter education, mentoring/support ser-vices, compulsory attendance support,educational awareness for parents,school improvement and careerpreparation.

Each of these groups are open formembers of the community, and we en-courage residents to get involved. Peo-ple express many reasons why theyhaven’t volunteered before. They don’thave enough time. They don’t thinktheir help is needed or wanted; or it’sbest to leave this to the professionals.Perhaps they want to help, but don’t

know where to go or how to start.Now VISD is making it easy for the

community to get involved. In fact, thedistrict is calling out for it. Teachingour kids is an important job, but it’snot just something limited to theschool campus. The lessons learned atschool must be reinforced outside theclassroom in real life. These focusgroups give members of the commu-nity a chance to find an area they canhelp in and do it. We are excited forthis chance to partner with the schooldistrict to make a positive change inthe lives of Victoria’s students. And weencourage the community to come outand get involved in these seven focusgroups. These children are the futureof Victoria, Texas, and our nation. Howcan we not give them the best chanceto succeed?

This editorial reflects the views ofthe Victoria Advocate’s editorialboard.




■ Topic: Community forum with VISD ■ Our View: It’s for residents to get involved in education

F R O M U S




When Herod the king had heard thesethings, he was troubled, and all

Jerusalem with him. And when he hadgathered all the chief priests and

scribes of the people together, he de-manded of them where Christ should

be born.Matthew 2:3-4

“When a friend is in trouble, don't annoyhim by asking if there is anything you cando. Think up something appropriate and

do it.”Edgar Watson Howe,

American editor, novelist and essayist

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Nothing Leftto Fear

The child fears the dark.Light proclaims there’snothing left to fear.A student fears failure.Success says there’snothing left to fear.A couple fearsresponsibility.The baby coos; there’snothing left to fear.Sr. Frances Cabrini Janvier,

Victoria


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We need to take responsibility to help kids

Unknown Victoria firefighter comforts girlEditor, the Advocate:

On Labor Day, our 2-year-old daughter sustained a con-cussion from hitting her head on our hardwood floors. Wespent 5 hours in the Citizens Medical Center’s EmergencyRoom, which turned out to be a very busy place. As you canimagine, she was not only feeling badly from the side ef-fects of the concussion, but she was also a bit frightenedand intimidated being in such a strange place. Because itwas so busy there, our room was actually a “hallway with abed.” We were able to see Victoria’s Fire and Res-cue/Paramedics at work bringing in patient after patient.Out of the blue, around 11 p.m., one of the firefight-ers/paramedics approached us and gave our daughter astuffed lion. He went on to say that she deserved to havesomething like that since she had been waiting so long andso patiently to be seen. She immediately hugged onto the li-on as she snuggled up against her daddy.

We thanked him over and over again, as it brought tearsto my eyes thinking how the kindness of a stranger bright-ened our daughter’s first trip to an emergency room. Weasked around trying to find out his name and what fire sta-tion he works from, but no one knew. We hope he sees thisletter and realizes what a profound effect he had on our ba-by girl and on the two of us parents who were also a littleshaken and concerned about our daughter’s condition. Hewas definitely an angel sent by God to brighten ourevening! Thank you, Mr. Victoria Fireman/Paramedic! MayGod Bless You!

Tara Childress, Victoria













Editor, the Advocate:“Hats off” to the new owners of The Colony at Colony

Creek. The grand opening festivities were delightful andthe turn out was great!

Watching and enjoying the renovations and revitalizationof the golf course and facilities has been exciting. There isa renewed sense of pride in our neighborhoods and in thegolf course (including the club, restaurant, pool and allthose great employees). We are so proud to be a part of agreat organization and look forward to the success andgrowth of The Colony at Colony Creek. Congratulations!

Kenny and Teresa French, Victoria

New Colony Creek is full of good stuff

T WHERE TO JOINThese seven committees invite the public to join their efforts to

reduce the dropout rate in the Victoria school district:

Communication andPartnerships■ WHERE: Chili’s, 5004 North

Navarro St.■ WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Oct. 4

Character Education■ WHERE: Victoria West High

School library, 307 W. TropicalDrive

■ WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Oct. 9

Mentoring/Support Services■ WHERE: Victoria West High

School library, 307 W. TropicalDrive

■ WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 17

Compulsory AttendanceSupport

■ WHERE: Victoria East HighSchool library, 4103 E.Mockingbird Lane

■ WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Oct. 9

Educational Awareness forParents■ WHERE: Victoria East High

School library, 4103 E.Mockingbird Lane

■ WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Oct. 9

School Improvement■ WHERE: Johnny Carino’s, 4904

North Navarro St.■ WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Oct. 16

Career Preparation■ WHERE: Career and Technical

Institute, 104 Profit Drive■ WHEN: 4:30 p.m. Sept. 19

absolutely lovemy Chevy Volt.”

That’s what thesmug guy in theTV commercial

says when he’s praising thevirtues of his plug-in hybridand boasting that he hasn’tseen a gas pump in months.

You might love your ChevyVolt, too – if you could affordto buy one.

The GM Volt, aka theGreen Edsel, is not just anoverly engineered, overlyexpensive, overweight andimpractical car than runson electricity and gasoline.

It’s a Solyndra on Wheels.The Volt only exists becauseit’s been so heavily dis-counted by GM and subsi-dized by the federal govern-ment.

So far, the Volt has costGovernment Motors abouttwice as much per car todevelop and make than itssticker price, which is$40,000. On top of that sav-ings, the consumer gets a$7,500 federal tax credit forbeing so green – or maybeso naive.

Yet the Volt’s ultimateprice – $32,500 for what isessentially an electrifiedand souped-up $17,000Chevy Cruze – is still sohigh that only those in thetop 7 percent of all income

earners willbuy it.

The averageper capita in-come of Voltbuyers is$172,000 – theincome brack-et that usuallydrives a BMW or a Mer-cedes.

In other words, the aver-age American – who makesless than $40,000 a year – issubsidizing a bunch of richpeople so they can hugthemselves for saving theplanet (by buying a car thatruns for about 35 miles onelectricity generated bycoal-fired power plants be-fore Exxon premium gashas to take over).

Despite these subsidiesand low-cost lease deals,Volt sales so far in 2012 are13,500, far below the 45,000cars GM hoped to sell thisyear in America alone.

Experts say GM will haveto sell about 120,000 Volts infive years to begin coveringits development costs. Goodluck, GM. I don’t think thereare that many celebrities inHollywood who need a thirdcar.

After Romney replacesObama this fall, let’s hopehe’ll pull the governmentplug on the Volt and con-

centrate on making us ener-gy independent.

Killing the Volt and anyother electric-car boondog-gles would be a good thing,and not just because it’dsave money the federal gov-ernment doesn’t have. Thepopularity of electric-pro-pelled cars that raisemiles-per-gallon averageshas given some of our more“progressive” governmentssome dangerous ideas.

State and local govern-ments worry that if gasolinesales decline, they’ll be de-prived of billions of dollarsin revenue from gas taxesthat now are used to main-tain roads or subsidizemass transit.

To make up for lost rev-enues from hybrids andelectric cars in the future,Oregon and San Franciscoalready have been lookinginto the idea of chargingdrivers a tax per each miledriven.

Cars would be fitted withGPS navigation systemsthat track how far theydrive. Then drivers wouldbe billed accordingly –about a penny a mile, de-pending on where and whenyou rack up the mileage.

Needless to say, this Or-wellian idea came from Eu-rope, and the Obama ad-

ministration has been ex-ploring it, too.

So let’s see what’s goingon here. The governmentgreenies want you to payextra to drive an electriccar that’s more fuel effi-cient, then they charge youfor the miles you drive any-way?

What red-blooded,road-loving American driverwants a government GPSimplanted in his car withsome bureaucrat looking atit to see how many mileshe’s driving?

Not me. I own a Ford Ex-pedition. I get 12.5 miles pergallon. I love it. When itgets too old, I’ll buy a newone.

The government is goingto get us one way or theother. I say, go out and buythe biggest SUV you want.Enjoy your life. Light acigar. Step on the gas. Anddon’t waste a watt on a Volt.

Michael Reagan is theson of President RonaldReagan, a political con-sultant, and the authorof “The New ReaganRevolution.” Visit hiswebsites at www.reagan.com and www.michaelereagan.com. Send com-ments to [email protected].

Chevy Volt is fed’s Solyndra fiasco on wheelsS Y N D I C A T E D C O L U M N

“IMIKE

REAGAN

Editor, the Advocate:Since last year, my daughter and i have been in a losing

battle with bullying. I understand that THIS year, VISD isALL about no bullying but the actions you have to takeare ridiculous and useless. Since last year, my daughterhas been picked on, made fun of, called names andstabbed in the hand with a pencil and yet the other childwas only given a few days of ISS. This new school yearhas barely started and already my child has to be movedfrom her school. What I don’t understand is that when achild makes a complaint about bullying, THEY are giventhe option to move to another school. Tell me again WHYthe victim must make the option to leave or stay. Tell me,VISD what is the point of this anti-bullying campaignwhen you do nothing about it. I understand certain stepshave to be followed and I agree it helps to rule out the re-al accusations from false ones. But what then? After 10days, a resolution is supposed to be provided and here weare, 12 days later, and still no resolution has been providedexcept telling my daughter to STAY away from the bully.Tell me, how is that physically possible when the bully isconstantly looking for you. I am at my wits’ end and turnto you Victoria Advocate to get the word out about this an-ti-bullying campaign and expose it for the uncaring fraudit is.

Carol Senclair, Victoria

Bullying is still a very real problem in VISD

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VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Tuesday, November 13, 2012 — B3VictoriaAdvocate.com

Callers talk aboutVeterans Day, more

What is wrong with ourcourts? I was just readingtoday’s paper, under sen-tenced – some of thosecrimes went back to 2007.That is ridiculous. Are ourcourts that overcrowded? Ifthey are, something desper-ately needs to be done.

Gay, Victoria

I would like to wish all ofour veterans a happy Veter-ans Day. Thank you so muchfor serving our country. Godbless you.

Beth, Victoria

I just want to say thankyou to the Victoria Advocatefor reporting how the peopletreat the veterans here. Thishas been wonderful with allof the parades lately, and it’sjust a wonderful thing to do

for these peo-ple who haveserved us sowell. Thankyou.

Ruth, Victoria

I think theidea of abreast-feedingbaby doll is

ridiculous. What are thesepeople going to come upwith next? And I wonderwhat in the world this worldis coming to.

Gay, Victoria

My comment is to Beatriceof Port Lavaca. I, too, praythat the president succeeds.But unless the Lordchanges Obama’s philoso-phy, things won’t change forthe better. We’ll have higherunemployment and moredebt.

Howard, Yorktown

fter reading a re-cent article in theVictoria Advocateabout mentors, Ifound myself look-

ing back to the influentialpeople in my life. Many ofthem helped get me to thepoint I am now, but onestood out above the rest.

As kids, we are alwaysasked what we want to do,who we want to be whenwe grow up. Some of uschose doctors, teachers orengineers, while otherswent much farther and saidthat they wanted to bemovie stars or president ofthe United States. I, like somany others, said that Iwanted to be a doctor, butby the time I reached highschool, my sights were seton pursuing something en-tirely different than a med-ical degree.

As a child, I loved tolearn about the past. Iwatched shows on the His-tory Channel with my dadand got into argumentsover who won World War II.I soon realized that maybe

being a histo-rian was theway to go,and by thetime I fin-ished middleschool, I hadmade mydecision.

One of the people whomotivated me and gave methe urge to study the pastwas my sixth-grade historyteacher, Mrs. Mon-roe-Porter. No one knewwhat to expect from her.Nonetheless, when Mrs.Monroe-Porter, or “Mrs.MP,” as some liked to callher, walked in the class forthe first time, I could get asense that I was going tolike her, and in the end, Idid. To this day, I don’tknow what gave me thatfeeling, but I could some-how feel it in the air.

Over the rest of theschool year, the classplayed games and learnedabout various cultures fromaround the world. My fa-vorite, by far, was the gamethat involved selling and

buying oil as members ofthe Organization of thePetroleum Exporting Coun-tries, or OPEC. Whenever Igot to school, I could notwait to get to her class justso I could sell more oil. Ican’t remember how muchoil my partner and I boughtor sold, but I do rememberthat it was a quite a num-ber of barrels.

As the school year beganto wind down, I ponderedmy future. I recalled thefun times I had in Mrs.Monroe-Porter’s class andcame to the conclusion thatmaybe history was my call-ing.

As I get ready to graduatethis coming spring with aBachelor of Arts in Human-ities-History, I find myselflooking back into my past,looking back to the daysspent in a classroom withno windows playing theOPEC game. If not for Mrs.Monroe-Porter and herworld cultures class, I don’tknow where I would be to-day. I have had a few moreexcellent history teachers

between sixth grade andnow, but I don’t know ifthey would have given methat aspiration to study the“olden days” like Mrs. Mon-roe-Porter did.

So, wherever you are,thank you, Mrs. Mon-roe-Porter, for motivatingme to have a thirst for his-tory. With the energy andthe thirst you instilled inme, I now have the desireto pursue a history careerand learn about the world’spast.

Breanna Mutschler is asenior at the Universityof Houston-Victoria. Sheis currently studyinghistory and will gradu-ate next spring. Aftergraduation, she plans toattend graduate schoolto receive a master’s inpublishing or history.Then, she plans to teachor become a nationalpark ranger somewhere.She also plans to be afreelance writer for var-ious outdoor or travelmagazines.

he Gulf Bend Center isplanning a major expan-sion, and we are pleasedto see it.

After receiving ap-proval for a $250,000 grant fromthe Victoria City Council, the cen-ter plans to build a facility tohouse some of Victoria’s most vul-nerable residents, includingrespite, transitional, and perma-nent and long-term mentally dis-abled limited clientele adults.

Gulf Bend Center Executive Di-rector Don Polzin says he hopesthe center will be open by late 2013,and we are excited at all the possi-bilities it will offer for mental health

treatment in the Crossroads.The Victoria area has been with-

out an inpatient service providersince Citizens Medical Center shutdown the One South unit in April2010. Since that time, if Victoriansneeded help that required inpa-tient treatment, they had to go toone of the surrounding cities, suchas Houston, San Antonio or Cor-pus Christi. But with this newplanned facility with Gulf Bend,people from Victoria or otherCrossroads cities will not experi-ence nearly as much inconve-nience as they receive treatment.

Now, Gulf Bend is negotiating tobuy a nearly three-acre site in the

1100 block of Nimitz Street to bethe location of this new facility andis partnering with the JohnsonFoundation, which has agreed tomatch the city’s grant. But eventhen, Gulf Bend will need to raisemore funds to make this a reality,and we encourage members of thecommunity to take any chancethey can to show their support andinvest in the mental health of Vic-toria and the Crossroads by con-tributing to this cause.

When the facility is open, it willoffer a new facet of mental healthcare Victoria has been without formore than two years, and the ef-fects of that option could be much

wider than convenience for arearesidents seeking care. Polzin saysthe effects could extend from fos-tering a better social environmentand safer communities to fewer in-carcerations. The main improve-ment will be the quality of life forthose able to receive treatment ina comfortable, familiar environ-ment close to home.

We applaud Gulf Bend for takingthis step to meet the needs of Vic-toria and the Crossroads. Mentalhealth is a vital part of any per-son’s quality of life. We appreciateeverything they do and hope to doto improve the mental health ofour friends and neighbors in the

Crossroads community.In addition, we applaud all those

working with Gulf Bend to see thisfacility become a reality. We areglad to see the Johnson Foundationand the city council stepping for-ward to offer solutions for thosesuffering with mental health issues,rather than treating the issue withthe stigma so much of societyseems to accept. Thank you for allyour help and support. We look for-ward to seeing the positive effectsof this facility once it is built.





■ Topic: Gulf Bend Center expansion ■ Our View: Good to see mental health services returning to area

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Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I havedriven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath;

and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause themto dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me

for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them.Jeremiah 32:37-39

“So, dear friend, put fear out of your heart. This nation will survive, thisstate will prosper, the orderly business of life will go forward if only men

can speak in whatever way given them to utter what their hearts hold – byvoice, by posted card, by letter or by press. Reason never has failed men.

Only force and repression have made the wrecks in the world.”William Allen White,American journalist


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Inpatient services coming back to Victoria

More people should follow cheerleaders’ lead

Editor, the Advocate:Could allowing religious banners be a slippery slope? Not

for those who are Christians. I feel for Annie Laurie Gaylor.I think we should all take a knee for her. This country wascreated on faith in God. As far as a lawsuit, I believe it isthe work of the devil, and those who are in this who are notthinking about what is right.

Look at the leaders of this country and what has hap-pened since they allowed abortion, same-sex marriage andso on. These kids making religious banners for the gamesare doing the right thing and taking back the right to showtheir faith and Christianity. Others should join in on thisfight for our rights, too.

I would like to see more schools pledging allegiance to theflag in their functions with all the words, including “underGod,” as it was first written. Have prayers before thegames to keep the kids safe while they’re playing, as it wasdone years ago.

There are a lot of kids who have been taught to respecttheir parents, teachers and elders, but there are many whoshow no respect. I pray for the school of Kountze High andtheir town and hope that they get behind these great kids.They are God-sent and can help get this country back todoing the right thing. I would like to see more schools getinvolved in doing the right thing and let the kids show theirfaith and spirit.

Let’s get behind these kids! Let’s take back our greatcountry!

Wynona Shannon, Victoria

Sixth-grade teacher inspired passion for history

A

T

BREANNAMUTSCHLER


opinion.






Becky Cooper,Local Editor

Tony Balandran,Delivery Desk Editor

Lauren Hightower-Emerson,Community Conversation Editor

Camille Easton,Sponsorship Coordinator




Thank you for helping make book fair successful

Editor, the Advocate:Rowland Magnet Elementary School had their Fall

Scholastic Book Fair the week of Nov. 5-9. The library was avery busy place. Our appreciation goes to all our staff, stu-dents and their families for supporting the book fair andmaking it a success.

We also would like to thank the following parents who vol-unteered to help with library activities during this event: Al-lie Atkinson, Jennifer and Lynn Boatwright, Sonja Gutier-rez, Bradley Hindley, Virginia Mousebauer, Stephanie Ortiz,Tonja Sledge and Ashley Solomon.

Beverly Juranek, Librarian

Y O U R V O I C E S

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VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Saturday, November 24, 2012 — B5VictoriaAdvocate.com

s the Victoria Ad-vocate continuesits education cam-paign, it’s impor-tant to remember

the valuable teachers whoinfluenced all of us.

Every day, we hear aboutthe dangers of our schoolsand the failures of ourschool system, so it’s easyto get the idea that thegreat teachers have left.This is completely untrue.There was one teacher whohelped me and many othersto not only master the prob-lems of a high school En-glish class but also to pre-pare for the more difficultissues of growing up.

I first met her while at el-ementary school at FaithAcademy. My Mom oftenhad to work late, and therewas no one to watch meuntil the high school En-glish teacher offered tohelp. Her name was JudyHahn, and she was famousfor being the toughest

teacher atschool.

On the dayswhen my par-ents wereworking late,she would letme stay in herclassroom andloaned me her privatecopies of books. I fell inlove with reading sitting inthat classroom. As I wentthrough all the everydaydifficulties of being a nerdykid, it always helped toknow that, of all people,Mrs. Hahn had faith in me.

In high school, I cameback to Faith Academy as astudent. Things hadchanged, not only for meand my classmates, but al-so for Mrs. Hahn. When Iwas a kid, things were sim-ple. I took the lunch myMom packed me, went toclass and hoped I could getthrough with good gradesand a good time. By thetime I came back, that

world was gone.The classes I had were

just as filled with hopefulstudents, but now they hadthe pressures of adulthoodstaring them down. Not on-ly were my classmates andI trying to master the prob-lems of grammar and liter-ature, but we also had toface problems like drug ad-diction and coping with bro-ken homes.

As if teaching a class ofstudents as messy as minewasn’t difficult enough, Mrs.Hahn had also been diag-nosed with severe maculardegeneration. The teacherwho had spent every dayreading to her students wasnow going blind. Remark-ably, this did not even slowher down. As her eyesightweakened, her characterand love for her studentswas strengthened. Hardly aday went by that she did notspend part of the classpraying for her students orencouraging them with

good advice. She was thebackbone of our entireclass, and the one personwe knew we could alwaystalk to, no matter what.

High school has been overfor years now, and I’ve hadto experience what happensin the “real world.” Thingshave been more difficultand more exciting than I’dexpected. My classmatesfrom Faith Academy haveall scattered, and we’re allliving wildly different livesthan any of us could haveimagined. I don’t knowwhere we will be in the fu-ture, and I can’t guess. I doknow one thing: Whereverwe are, we have gottenthere with the help of avery special woman whodid far more than teach usEnglish.

Philip Collins is a Victo-ria native and a seniorat UHV. After gradua-tion, he plans to work asa freelance writer.

THUMBS-UP

Thumbs-up to the FirstBaptist Church of Victo-ria and John Legg forthe video tribute at itsSunday service Nov. 11to all their veterans, past and pre-sent. It was a great way to saluteall those who have served thisgreat country.

Ray, Victoria

Thumbs-up to the Advocate’s ex-cellent editorial, “Take Time toGive Thanks Before HittingStores.” I especially liked the lines:

“Americans have become sowrapped up in being consumersthat we forget to be friends andfamily,” and “You may collect all

the stuff in the world, but withoutsomeone to share it with, what’sthe point?” Thanks for the friendlyreminder.

Mary Ann, Moulton

FROM THE EDITORIAL BOARD

THUMBS-UP

Thumbs-up and wel-come home to AC2 (AW)Adam Daughtrey andany other veterans whocelebrated Thanksgivingeither at home or abroad. Thankyou for your service.

Thumbs-up to the SalvationArmy and all the volunteers whohelped at the Salvation Army

Thanksgiving Lunch. Thank youfor reminding us what Thanksgiv-ing is about.

Thumbs-up to Albert Galvan,Norman Ramirez, Arthur Vasquez,Ralph Gonzales, Eddie Ramirezand Jerry Villarreal for organizingthe 29th annual Industrial WorkersChristmas Party. Thank you forputting this together and collectingtoys to give children for Christ-mas.

Thumbs-up to Liberty FinancialServices for holding a blanketdrive from Monday to Thursday tohelp families affected by Hurri-cane Sandy.

Thumbs-up to the members ofFirst Presbyterian Church in Vic-

toria for bringing baked goods toarea firefighters to thank them forall they do.

Thumbs-up to the Jackson Coun-ty Cattle Raisers for the PremiumBull and Replacement FemaleSale planned in February to re-stock Crossroads herds after arough year of drought.

Thumbs-up to James Baker, whowon the AdvoSports.com PigskinPick ’Em contest. Enjoy yourall-expense-paid vacation to Dis-ney World.

Thumbs-up to Santa coming tothe Victoria Mall. We look forwardto seeing plenty of pictures of kidssitting on Santa’s lap sharing theirwish-lists with him.

THUMBS-DOWN

Thumbs-down to allthe insanity surroundingBlack Friday. Shopperscan get to their pre-ferred product withoutpushing and shoving.

We want to make it as easy aspossible for you to submit yourcomments. Be sure to include yourcontact information so we canverify you wrote the “thumbs.”Only your first name will be usedin the newspaper. You may emailthem to [email protected], mailthem to Thumbs-Up,Thumbs-Down, Victoria Advocate.P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77902, ordrop them off at our offices at 311E. Constitution St.

F R O M U S

G U E S T C O L U M N S

F R O M Y O U

S P O T L I G H T L E T T E R

F R O M O T H E R S

Thumbs-up, thumbs-down; it’s your choice

Thank you for help, support in campaign

Editor, the Advocate:

Thank you to all who helped in my campaign for

county commissioner. It was a long and unusual elec-

tion year because of the redistricting. Thanks to Mr.

Mallette for a well-run campaign.

I am humbled by the enormous support from voters

in Precinct 1.The good Lord has put me in a position to help, and

you (voters) have entrusted me with your confidence

to do this job. I will always strive to do my best to

represent your needs and hear your concerns. I will

treat your tax dollars no different than if I were

spending my own money.

Victoria County is a great place to live, and I am

excited in being a small part of assuring that we

continue to grow and prosper so we can con-

tinue to be a strong community.

I have a lot to be thankful for this

year. I’m blessed beyond measure.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Danny Garcia, Victoria

Mentor never lost her passion for teaching

APHILIP

COLLINS



– First Amendment to the U.S. ConstitutionEditorial page editor: Lauren Hightower-Emerson, 361-580-6590, [email protected]

Thank you for comfort, help during time of grief

Editor, the Advocate:The family of Abel Barrera would like to express their ap-

preciation for surrounding us with love and care during ourgrief.

We were touched by the prayers, calls, visits, food, flowersand words of encouragement. Your kindness and generosityprovided us with comfort.

The loving sympathy you have shown during this tremen-dously difficult time is so greatly appreciated. It is a great com-fort to know you are thinking of us as we grieve Abel’s death.

In God’s love,

The Abel D. Barrera Sr. family, Victoria

Election results may signal end of freedom

Editor, the Advocate:It’s a sad day in America when a candidate who plays the

role of Robin Hood wins the presidency. It’s a sad day whenthe incumbent president is able to bribe enough deadbeatswith increased food stamps and welfare payments, free cellphones, extended unemployment benefits, etc., in exchangefor the presidency. Combine that with the 47 percent whodo not pay income tax and a pandering media ... victory isalmost inevitable in our current social climate.

Obama is now talking about a “fiscal cliff,” for which he islargely responsible with his give-away programs to buy theelection. He, along with the mainstream media, will nowportray the Republicans as obstructionists if they fail to goalong with large tax increases to pay for more give-awayprograms. After all, his voter base will expect more of thesame. They don’t know or don’t care where the funds comefrom or how it affects the economic status of this country.They just expect Obama to deliver. The demographic trendsfavor a continued growth of this socialist movement.

We may have seen our last chance to retain the freedomsour forefathers and our military personnel have fought anddied for.

Jerry Janak, Hallettsville




In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and inthe cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the

places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall theflocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them, saith

the Lord. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I willperform that good thing which I have promised unto the house ofIsrael and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time,will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David;

and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.Jeremiah 33:13-15

“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Yourvision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the

prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.”James Allen, New Zealander statesman, minister of defense

W O R D S WE WANT YOUR LETTERSDan Easton,

Publisher





Becky Cooper,Local Editor

Tony Balandran,Delivery Desk Editor

Lauren Hightower-Emerson,Community Conversation Editor

Camille Easton,Sponsorship Coordinator




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VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Sunday, November 11, 2012 — H3VictoriaAdvocate.com

onservatives canbe forgiven forseeking to ratio-nalize Mitt Rom-ney’s loss – “me-

dia were against him,” “theprimaries dragged on toolong,” “Paul Ryan was apoor choice,” “Seamus atehis master’s homework,”whatever. But progressivesshould bite their tongues.

Late on election nightChris Matthews of MSNBCblurted out that he was“glad we had that stormlast week,” implying thatHurricane Sandy was partlyresponsible for PresidentObama’s win. He apologizedprofusely the next day.Meanwhile, his network andits competitors are spend-ing much of their post-elec-tion time focusing on thescience of campaigning, asif Tuesday’s vote occurredin some exotic computerlab.

Liberal pundits are gush-ing over the “Chicago team”that crunched numbers, tar-geted voters in the rightplaces and engineered acarefully calculated win. OnFox, Bill O’Reilly stated flat-ly that if Obama’s guruDavid Axelrod had beenrunning Romney’s cam-paign, the Republican wouldhave won.

Both sides make the elec-

tion sound likea game inwhich theAmerican peo-ple are chesspieces – most-ly pawns.

The scienceof campaign-ing is growing exponentially,there’s no doubt about that.Howard Dean is often citedas the first major candidateto harness the Internet forhis 2004 presidential bid,building what came to beknown as a Netroots cam-paign and using the Inter-net to spread messages,raise money and track vot-ers. Obama’s 2008 campaigntook it further and, for the2012 race – with more time,money and tools – the pres-ident’s staff ran the mostsophisticated campaign inhistory.

Of course, it was also themost expensive, with morethan $2 billion spent by thetwo parties and their back-ers. In Iowa, for example,it’s estimated that the finalprice of each electoral votewas $12.3 million.

But money couldn’t buythis election any more thancomputer science was ableto engineer it. Karl Rove’ssuper PAC spent more than$100 million on televisionads, and came away with

what the Sunlight Founda-tion computes was about a1 percent return on invest-ment.

Despite the spending anddemographic targeting, thiselection may have been oneof the most democratic ever.It was, from the start, aboutissues. It was about theclear, philosophical differ-ences regarding how gov-ernment should work, and amajority of voters indicatedthey share the president’sviews.

But even in conceding thatmuch, some conservativespoint out how this philos-ophy divides demographical-ly, and all of a sudden we’reback on the chessboard.The suggestion is that de-mographic groups – blacks,Latinos, young women –who voted heavily for thepresident, simply weren’t“targeted” properly. That ifthey had somehow gottenthe message, things wouldhave turned out differently.

They got the message.And no amount of adver-tising, spinning or even in-timidating could change it.

There’s an even more sin-ister angle at work here,grabbing space on conser-vative blogs and being whis-pered about on cable-TV. Itseems to hint that the coali-tion of minorities that

backed Obama is somehowless American, less deserv-ing of an equal say. “Themoochers re-elected Oba-ma,” is how one blogger putit.

Rush Limbaugh, bombas-tic mouthpiece for the farright, acknowledged the sit-uation. “If we’re not gettingthe female vote,” he askedhis radio listeners, “do webecome pro-choice? Do westart passing out birth con-trol pills? Is that what wehave to do?”

The best thing that can besaid about Limbaugh andhis followers is that theyare not willing to compro-mise their beliefs. Votersrecognized that in rejectingnot only the top of the GOPticket but also many ex-tremists down below.

Thus, with due respect toKarl Rove’s checkbook andDavid Axelrod’s computer, itseems Americans can bemanipulated only so far. Ifthe puppeteers on eitherside hope that voters willpay no attention to the manbehind the curtain, theyoverlook the fact that thereal force behind the votingbooth curtain is you.

Peter Funt is a writerand speaker and can bereached at CandidCam-era.com.

PERSPECTIVESEditorial page editor: Lauren Hightower-Emerson, 361-580-6590, [email protected]

How many of the candidates you voted forwere elected?

1. All

2. Most

3. About half

4. A few

5. None

6. Didn’t voteComment:

To vote on this question, go to VictoriaAdvocate.com, or call580-6587 to voice your opinion on our Speak Out line.

ONLINE POLL OF THE WEEK

O P I N I O N S

F R O M O T H E R S

■ YOUR ONLINE COMMENTS

■ YOUR SEAT AT THE TABLE

Person with real power in United States is you

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We invite you to a seat at theeditorial board. Send us yourideas and issues to share withcommunity to the Advocate,311 E. Constitution St.; mailthem to P.O. Box 1518, Victoria77902; or e-mail them to [email protected].

TEXAS U.S. SENATORS■ U.S. Sen. John Cornyn: 317 Hart Senate Office

Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20510, office: (202)224-2934, fax: (202)228-2856

■ U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison: 284 Russell SenateOffice Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20510,office: (202) 224-5922, fax: (202) 224-0776

TEXAS U.S. REPRESENTATIVES■ U.S. Rep. Ron Paul: 203 Cannon House Office

Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515,office: (202) 225-2831

■ U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa: 2463 Rayburn HouseOffice Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515,office: (202) 225-2531

■ U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett: 201 Cannon House OfficeBldg., Washington, D.C. 20515,office: (202) 225-4865

TEXAS SENATORS■ State Sen. Glenn Hegar: P.O. Box 1008, Katy 77492

office: (281) 391-8883, fax: (281) 391-8818,Austin: (512) 463-0118

■ State Sen. Juan Hinojosa: 612 Nolana, Suite 410B,McAllen 78504, office: (956) 972-1841,fax: (956) 664-0602, Austin: (512) 463-0120

TEXAS REPRESENTATIVES■ State Rep. Geanie Morrison: 1908 N. Laurent, Suite

500, Victoria 77901, office: (361) 572-0196,fax: (361) 576-0747 fax, Austin: (512) 463-0456

■ State Rep. Todd Hunter: Corpus Christi 78418Office: (512) 463-0672, fax: (512) 463-5896

VICTORIA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT■ County Judge: 101 N. Bridge St. Victoria 77901

(361) 575-4558 (general number for thecommissioners court)

■ County Commissioners:Precinct 1 at DaCosta 77905, (361) 575-8711Precinct 2 at Nursery Drive 77976,(361) 575-3972Precinct 3 at Goliad Highway 77905,(361) 578-8212Precinct 4 at Foster Field 77904, (361) 575-5221

VICTORIA COUNTY SHERIFF101 N. Glass St., Victoria 77901(361) 575-0651

CITY OF VICTORIA■ City Manager and City Council

105 W. Juan Linn St., Victoria77901,(361) 485-3030

HOW TO CONTACT YOUR LAWMAKERS

Hitting the “like” buttondoesn’t seem sufficient.What a loss to your familyand the law enforcementfamily. But your loss isheaven’s gain. Praying foryou all.

Steve

To family and friends:Thank you so much for

the thoughts and prayersthat have been lifted up forour family. It isn’t easy, andI know that there is a longroad ahead. It is the roadthat Terry and I traveledtogether in raising a family,working in law enforce-ment and, mostimportant,serving theLord that willget me throughthese difficultdays. There aremany memories fromthe time we spent inSpring, to the time onthe border, and thesepast years in Victoria. Itis a welcomed joy to seepast and present friendsand family that have post-ed showing their respects.Again from myself and myfamily we thank you.

Pat

I went though the acade-my with Terry, we were de-tectives together andworked side-by-side attimes at Harris CountySheriff's Dept. You couldn’tfind a better friend if youknew him. You will be sore-ly missed Terry. God blessyou.

Marty

Uncle Terry wore severalhats for me. He was my un-cle, a mentor, a father, abrother and a friend. I val-ued his opinion and adviceon many things. Mycousins and I spent a lot oftime with him, talkingabout things and comingup with ways to save theworld. His passing hurts.The sudden loss of some-one who is so important ishard to handle. I rememberwhat was important to him:God, family and friends,and country; and I will turnto those for my comfort.Thanks, Uncle Terry, forthe time you spent with meand the legacy you passedon. I will work as hard as Ican to never taint it.

James

Terry and me had somegreat times on the bookingdesk at the 301 San Jacintojail. I would share somestories but I don’t think thestatute of limitations is upyet. R.I.P. Terry.

Jim

Terry has been a greatfriend for many years. Ihad great respect for himand his faith in JesusChrist. He will be missed.We will be praying for his

family.

Tom

A W O R D F R O M V I S D

Small changes can have big effect in educationn Wednesday, Iwill have the dis-tinct honor andprivilege of pre-senting the “State

of the District” report tothe Victoria Chamber ofCommerce. As we prepareour report, we are con-stantly reminded of the sto-ry 212 Degrees – The ExtraDegree of Effort. You see,at 211 degrees, water ishot. At 212 degrees, it boils.With boiling water comessteam and steam can pow-er a locomotive. Raisingthe temperature of waterby one extra degree meansthe difference betweensomething that is simplyvery hot and somethingthat generates enoughforce to power a machine.

This example reminds usall that seemingly smallthings can make a tremen-dous difference. HenryFord once stated; “Comingtogether is a beginning.Keeping together is

progress, andworking to-gether is suc-cess.”

In VISD, Iam proud tostate we areworking to-gether andexperiencing success. Re-garding our curriculum andexamining the best re-search-based practices forsuccess, Robert Marzano(2003) concludes that aguaranteed and viable cur-riculum is the most power-ful school-level factor in de-termining overall studentachievement. In the VISD,our commitment is to en-sure that the intended cur-riculum (the Texas Essen-tial Knowledge and Skills)is implemented effectively,accurately and consistentlyby all teachers and thatwhat students actuallylearn is aligned with the in-tended and implementedcurriculum.

The opportunity for allstudents to learn andachieve excellence can onlyoccur when a commitmentfrom all stakeholders en-sure the written, taughtand learned curriculum isaligned and organized. Ourteachers, campus staff, ad-ministration, support staff,and our Curriculum, In-struction and Accountabili-ty division have done anamazing job of working to-gether and spiraling themajor competencies thatour students are expectedto master while, at thesame time, providing profi-ciency and understanding.

As educators, our job is tolook into the future and seethe organization not as itis, but as it should be.Robert Townsend statedthat true leadershipmust be for the ben-efit of the followersand not for the en-richment of theleaders. In VISD, we

realize that we are not inthe education businessserving people. We are inthe people business servingeducation.

It is clearly evident, evenin these challenging timesof public education, that weare holding on to our visionof “Achieving Excellence forALL,” and that we are sur-rounded by “changeagents” and “differencemakers” who truly serve as“champions for our chil-dren.” On behalf of theBoard of Trustees and theentire VISD, we truly appre-ciate the support from ourcommunity, your commit-ment to excellence and yourwillingness to achieve more.

Robert Jaklich is the su-perintendent for the Vic-

toria IndependentSchool District.Contact him at361-788-9202 orthrough the VISD

website visd.com.

OROBERT

JAKLICH

PETERFUNT

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education: a community commitment

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