Editorial Writing

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write your officials

stategov. rick PerryPO Box 12428austin, tX 78711512-463-2000http://governor.state.tx.us/

state rep. John ottoP.O. Box 2910austin, tX 78768-2910512- 463-0570Fax: 512-463-0315district Office:P.O. Box 965dayton, tX 77535(936) 258-8135Fax (936) 258-7190

state sen. Charles schwertnerP.O. Box 12068Capitol stationaustin, texas 78711(512) 463-0105(512) 463-5713 (fax)

NatIoNalPresident Barack obamathe White house1600 Pennsylvania ave., nWWashington, d.C. 20500202-456-1111http://www.whitehouse.gov

U.s. sen. John Cornynunited states senateWashington, d.C. 20510-4305202-224-2934http://www.cornyn.senate.gov

U.s. sen. ted CruzRoom B40Bdirksen senate Office BuildingWashington, d.C. 20510202-224-5922http://cruz.senate.gov

U.s. rep. kevin Brady301 Cannon BuildingWashington, d.C. 20515202-225-4901huntsville office: (936) 439-9532www.house.gov/brady

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Opiniont h e h u n t s v i l l e i t e m s u n d ay, a u g u s t 1 0 , 2 0 1 4 / 4 a

By BoB orkand

Item ColumnIst

When four-star Navy Admiral WilliamH. McRaven addressed a gathering ofalmost 8,000 University of Texas graduat-ing seniors and their families at the Toweron UT’s campus the evening of May 17,little did he know he was in effect audi-tioning for the chancellorship of one ofour state’s premier higher-education insti-tutions.

But that’s exactly what resulted. Standing tall in his dress-white uni-

form, McRaven (UT class of 1977, majorin journalism, minor in Middle Easternstudies) enthralled his audience at the uni-versity-wide commencement with a force-ful address that was widely viewed andwell-received on the Internet within hoursof its delivery.

He enumerated 10 “life lessons” learnedduring 37 years of active duty in the Navy,most of them spent as a Navy SEAL, cul-minating with his current post heading theU.S. Special Operations Command atMacDill Air Force Base, Fla., after plan-ning and leading the raid that resulted inthe 2011 death of Osama bin Laden. Hisretirement from the Navy at the end of thismonth had already been planned andapproved before he spoke at UT in May.

The very first McRaven “life lesson”was learned during six months of BasicSEAL training in Coronado, Calif., short-ly after graduation from UT. His instruc-tors — all Navy Vietnam veterans —began each day inspecting trainee beds.“If you did it right,” he told his hugegraduation audience, ”the corners wouldbe square, the covers pulled tight, the pil-low centered just under the headboard andthe extra blanket folded neatly at the footof the rack — rack — that’s Navy talk forbed.”

“It was a simple task,” the 58-year-oldadmiral continued, “mundane at best. Butevery morning we were required to makeour beds to perfection. ... If you makeyour bed every morning you will haveaccomplished the first task of the day. Itwill give you a small sense of pride and itwill encourage you to do another task andanother and another. By the end of theday, that one task completed will haveturned into many tasks completed.Making your bed will also reinforce thefact that little things in life matter. If youcan’t do the little things right, you willnever do the big things right.”

Summing up the bed-making segment

of his speech, McRaven — echoing theuniversity’s slogan, “What starts herechanges the world” — advised the gradu-ates, “If you want to change the world,start off by making your bed.”

In a speech last January to West Point’sClass of 2015, he modestly told the Armycadets that he chose journalism as hismajor because he “couldn’t hack math andscience.” He then added wryly that his“academic prowess resulted in a graduatingGPA of 2.9 — of which I was very proud.”

So clearly, UT hasn’t exactly landed ascholar when McRaven replacesChancellor Francisco Cigarroa nextJanuary, although McRaven does possessa master’s degree from the NavalPostgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., aresearch university operated by the Navyfor active-duty officers of all the armedservices, as well as some upwardlymobile career U.S. government managers.

Lacking management experience of anysort in the academic field, what McRaveninstead brings to UT’s helm is leadership,an area in which he has vast experiencesince earning a Navy ROTC commissionas an ensign at UT, after entering the uni-versity with a scholarship in track. Hesays he was motivated to become a SEALafter seeing John Wayne’s 1968 movie“The Green Berets,” about Army SpecialForces operations during the early days ofthe Vietnam War, before the Americanpublic became disenchanted with the warand turned against it.

Born in Pinehurst, N.C., McRavenbecame a Texan when his father Claude,an Air Force fighter pilot in World War II,was transferred to a San Antonio airbasein 1963 and decided to retire in the AlamoCity. McRaven attended public schoolsthere, enjoying a special relationship withhis high school track coach, JerryTurnbow, whom he called to thank shortlyafter the success of the Bin Laden raid.

In a 2011 interview withdallasnews.com after bring named Texanof the Year, McRaven recalled phoningTurnbow. “As I told the coach, I don’tknow if he remembered, but I was tryingto break the high school record in themile. The record at the time was 4:32:07.And I had run, two weeks before, to 4:37.I was still quite a few seconds off ...Coach Turnbow called me up and said,‘You can do this: You can break theschool record. You just have to keep yourhead down and run. ‘But really what thattaught me was about setting goals. I real-ized that I wasn’t a tremendously talented

runner, but you put a lot of effort into it,and you have people like Coach Turnbowwho believe you can do things, and it’samazing what you can get done.”

When McRaven’s appointment as UT’schancellor is confirmed by the Board ofRegents on or about Aug. 18, he’ll have afew months to develop a strategy for uni-fying the divisive elements that haveroiled the UT campus in recent months.But then, he’s already demonstrated thathe’s pretty darn good at tactics and strate-gy, hasn’t he?

There’ll be days in Austin when there’sno clear sailing, when there’s no “fairwinds and following seas,” as marinersdescribe balmy days at sea.

After all, another famous militaryleader who was named in 1948 to headColumbia University never earned accept-ance by the school’s faculty and never feltcomfortable with fundraising responsibili-ties. So when President Harry Trumantracked him down while he was visitingOhio’s Heidelberg College in December1950 — causing him to trudge throughfoot-deep snow to take the president’sphone call at a freight office — he wasonly too glad to shuck his academic robesand get back into his five-star Army uni-form as NATO’s first supreme allied com-mander. Two years later, DwightEisenhower — who rates a grade of onlyB-/C+ as Columbia’s president — becameone of our nation’s greatest presidents,earning an A+ from many historians.

In addition to Admiral McRaven,another staunch disciplinarian recentlycame aboard the UT organization. Newhead football coach Charlie Strong at lastreport had dismissed or suspended 10 ofhis Longhorns for various infractions,leaving his team somewhat shorthandedwhen it opens at home Aug. 30 againstNorth Texas. But Coach Strong is settinga higher standard of behavioral expecta-tions for his players, one that’ll result inbetter teams over the long haul.

So as Bill McRaven imposes his will atO. Henry Hall on Colorado Street indowntown Austin — where the UTSystem has its administrative headquarters— and as Charlie Strong does likewise atDarrell K Royal-Texas MemorialStadium, one senses that the turbulentseas and stormy clouds overhangingevents in Austin in recent years may bemorphing into fairer weather andsmoother sailing in the days ahead. Itseems the Horns have hooked a couple ofwinners.

University of Texas’ new boss: Make your bed every day!

let’s work togetHer

Wake up Huntsville,we have a seriouscrisis. We’re failing

our school children at everylevel. That’s the conclusion wedrew from the most recentresults of the State of TexasAssessment of AcademicReadiness, or STAAR, tests.

Even though most of theschools in the district met statestandards, Huntsville ISD stu-dents showed they were notready for these tests. The per-formance at our public schoolswas poor.

In 22 of 23 reporting areas(passing rates on tests by gradelevels and subjects), HISD fellbelow the state’s averagescores. For the second year in arow, Huntsville ISD studentshave not performed up to parcompared to their peers.

That’s bad news folks andwe must do something about it.

The Texas EducationAgency said late last week thatHuntsville ISD met its stan-dards, but three campuses —Huntsville Intermediate,Stewart Elementary andSamuel Walker HoustonElementary — failed to meetthe state standards on studentprogress and were declaredcampuses where improve-ments were required.

What can we do?The Item’s newly formed

editorial board has kickedaround that question, and eventhough there’s no one on ourboard who claims to have allthe answers, we came up witha few ideas that might make adifference.

• Crank up the discipline inall Huntsville schools. True,it’s easier to turn a blind eye toa T-shirt that does not conformto the district’s dress code, butwhat happens when teachers

and administrators relax therules? Students push bound-aries in other areas and itdoesn’t take long for rules to bethrown out the window. It’s afact that students need bound-aries.

Schools in general have seri-ous problems when teachersand administrators lose controlof the student population. It’stime to take back the class-rooms, lunchrooms, play-grounds and hallways. Therules were made for a reason,and students must abide bythose rules or deal with theconsequences.

• Parents have to help.Spend time with your childrenand help them with their home-work. Turn off the TV and takeaway the video games for anhour. Read with your kids, digin and do some work. Getinvolved in their education.Parents might only have tospend 15 minutes a day to seebetter results.

It’s been shown time andagain that students who havestrong family support do betterthan those with little or none atall. Work with children athome, even if it’s for a shorttime each evening, and betterresults are bound to follow.

• Scrap cellphones fromBYOT, or “Bring Your OwnTechnology.” What a disasterthis program turned out to be.Any notion that students onlysurf the Web on their smart-phones for school purposes issilly. We’ve heard anecdotalevidence from teachers who saythe plan causes distractionsbecause of rampant cellphoneuse.

If the district insists on usingmodern technology in theclassroom, put computers thatcan be monitored on every

desk. This will help those stu-dents who can’t afford elec-tronic devices.

• Do more tutoring, and do itat all levels, especially early ina child’s education. A lot canbe accomplished when ateacher and student meet oneon one on a regular basis.

If teachers are too taxed tohandle this, get some help fromSam Houston StateUniversity’s College ofEducation — often regarded asone of the best around. Openschool doors in Huntsville foraspiring teachers and let themwork with our young kids afteror before school.

Huntsville ISD alreadyrequires extra class time forstudents who fail the STAARtest, but maybe incentivizedtutoring could be added earlierfor certain topics like math andreading where the district per-forms poorly. That way, stu-dents may pass the first time.

• We’ve got to reach out ourhands to students who are stilllearning the English language.What if the district’s Spanish-speaking teachers/administra-tors get more active in the com-munity? They can stress theimportance of education to thestudents who struggle mightilywith standardized tests. Moreimportantly, they can make itclear to Mom and Dad why it’sso important for their children tolearn how to read and write theEnglish language, and whatsolid math and science skillswill do to boost students’ per-formances now and in thefuture.

• Form a committee of bonafide education experts to gothrough the test results, theTexas Academic PerformanceResults (TAPR) and accounta-bility results.

Obviously there’s not onemagic answer to the problemsfacing the district. However, agroup of people who studyproblems in education may beable to recommend steps thedistrict can take to solve someof these issues. This could be agroup of veteran educators,SHSU professors, EducationalService Center experts andothers who can delve into theTEA reports and help the dis-trict decide what to do next.

• Our school board shouldstop worrying about bonds,new school buildings andfancy extracurricular facilities,for now at least, and focus theirattention on classroom educa-tion and improved test scores.

A brand-new junior high isnot going to solve all of theproblems that exist at MancePark Middle School.Commitment by teachers andprincipals, moms, dads, aunts,uncles and grandparents willsurely make some difference.

School Board President J.T.Langley said a bond is nolonger the priority of the cur-rent board, but instead boardmembers are focused on fixing“what’s going on within thesewalls.”

Langley said board membersare committed to hiring asuperintendent who canaddress all of the district’sproblems head-on. We hopethis is true for the sake of thestudents.

We’ve got to do somethingand all of us must get involved.Education has to be a priority.

Together we can conceive anew plan. We’ve all got tobelieve in our teachers, admin-istrators, and our students.They can do this! Then the stu-dents can begin to achieveagain.

to improve education in Huntsville

Item edItorIal

8-10 Page 4a Opinion_layout 1 8/9/14 6:19 Pm

Opinion Page policy

Write your officialsSTaTEGov. Rick PerryPO Box 12428austin, TX 78711512-463-2000http://governor.state.tx.us/

State Rep. John OttoP.O. Box 2910austin, TX 78768-2910512- 463-0570Fax: 512-463-0315district Office:P.O. Box 965dayton, TX 77535(936) 258-8135Fax (936) 258-7190

State Sen. Charles SchwertnerP.O. Box 12068Capitol Stationaustin, Texas 78711(512) 463-0105(512) 463-5713 (fax)

NaTiONalPresident Barack ObamaThe White House1600 Pennsylvania ave., nWWashington, d.C. 20500202-456-1111http://www.whitehouse.gov

U.S. Sen. John Cornynunited States SenateWashington, d.C. 20510-4305202-224-2934http://www.cornyn.senate.gov

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruzroom B40Bdirksen Senate Office BuildingWashington, d.C. 20510202-224-5922http://cruz.senate.gov

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady301 Cannon BuildingWashington, d.C. 20515202-225-4901Huntsville office: (936) 439-9532www.house.gov/brady











©2011. The Huntsville Item is published mornings seven days a weekat 1409 10th St., Huntsville, TX 77342, by The Huntsville Item. USPS254-580. Second class postage paid at Huntsville, TX 77340. POST-MASTER: Send address changes to The Huntsville Item, PO Box 539,Huntsville, TX 77342.

Subscription rates:

Rita Haldeman

Publisher

[email protected]

Tom Waddill

Editor

[email protected]

[email protected]

Bill Hamilton

Business manager

[email protected]

Polly Johnson


[email protected]

Cecil Poe

Production director

[email protected]

The Huntsville item encouragessubmissions to our Opinion Page. Wewelcome diverse and varied opinions.However, unless explicitly noted, noopinion expressed on this page reflectsthe editorial position of The Huntsvilleitem.

Letters will be published unless theycontain content deemed inappropriateor in poor taste.

Letters need to be 250 words orfewer. The item reserves the right toedit letters for length and language andto reject letters that:








Email your letters to us [email protected]. includeyour letter in the body of the email.

ThE ITEm’s VIEw

OpinionT H E H u n T S v i L L E i T E m S u n d ay, n O v E m B E r 2 3 , 2 0 1 4 / 4 a

Elected officials should speak their mindsGovernment oftentimes is a messy busi-

ness. There are politics, taxing powers,land rights and many other actions electedfigures have to take that are polarizing.

Each elected figure has to make difficultdecisions about how they will cast theirvotes, and it’s important that we know whythose votes are cast.

That’s not always what happens, though.Take the recent naming of Dr. Howell

Wright as the lone finalist for HuntsvilleISD’s superintendent job.

Early in the process, HISD trustees SamMoak and Justin Brock were adamant thatSonny Cruse, the district’s deputy superin-tendent who was serving as the interimsuperintendent, was the man for the job.

Moak and Brock both voted against hir-ing an outside firm to help HISD conductan extensive search for its next superin-tendent. They were sold on Cruse andhoped the board would promote him to thedistrict’s top job.

After a lengthy search, Moak and Brockboth voted in favor of naming Wright thelone finalist for the superintendent posi-tion. Why? What happened to Cruse, andwhat did Wright say during the interviewsthat won over those two board members?

Those are legitimate questions to which

we still have no answers.Over the last year, Item reporters, when

asking board members questions, havebeen told that Board President J.T. Langleywould act as the board’s spokesman. Thishappened in all but a few instances.

The idea of the president as the singlespokesman comes from Texas Associationof School Board training that tells boardmembers to act as one unit, or be united indecisions that steer the district.

In that regard, it can be understood that aboard would want to have a single, clearmessage as to why it acted a certain way.

However, what if board members werenot united? Take, for example, the summerhiring of an HISD principal that had twodissenting votes — Patrick Antwi andRissie Owens. Antwi did not want to talkabout why he voted against the hiring.Langley, the spokesman-by-proxy, chosenot to comment on the split decision.

We all are left wondering.Although we’re singling out specific

board members, this is not an attack on anyof them personally, or their actions. This isabout transparency. This is about makingmore clear the tough decisions our electedofficials make on a regular basis.

Each board member has their own

thoughts. Currently, they all represent, by afortunate happenstance, a cross section ofthe community.

Three board members — Traci Stoudt,Brock and Owens — represent the TexasDepartment of Criminal Justice communi-ty. Antwi represents the Sam Houston StateUniversity viewpoint. Langley representsretired citizens and retired teachers. KarinOlson-Williams, a medical doctor, andMoak, a Huntsville attorney, representlocal business owners and working profes-sionals.

Additionally, many of the board mem-bers are parents of school-age children andformer Hornets themselves. Having anunofficial policy to only allow one personto speak hinders the rest of those view-points from being represented andexplained.

The trustees normally voice their opin-ion on the dais. This is especially importantsince board meetings are no longer tele-vised on the public access channel as theyused to, and should be. But that’s an edito-rial topic for another day.

We urge Huntsville ISD board members— all seven of them — to be more willingto speak openly about decisions and votesthey make for and against measures.

By BoB orkand

Item ColumnIst

You probably wouldn’t chal-lenge an assertion that theNew England Patriots reignsupreme as the best footballteam — college or pro — inthe northeastern region of ournation.

This despite the fact that thePatriots began their seasonwith a mediocre 2-2 record,which they’ve since improvedto a very tidy 8-2 (best in theAFC) heading into today’sclash in Foxboro, Mass., withthe surprising (7-3) DetroitLions, a game the Patriots arefavored to win.

And we shouldn’t be sur-prised to see Messrs.Belichick, Brady, Gronkowski& Co. of the Patriots still play-ing next Feb. 1 in Glendale,Arizona, in Super Bowl XLIX.(Translated, that’s the 49thSuper Bowl. The 2016 clashwill simply be dubbed “50” soall of us can comprehend andappreciate the anniversaryimplications of this momen-tous event.)

But back to New England,where it’s kinda cold to beplaying football these days.While the Patriots’ 8-2 record(before tackling the Lionstoday) is commendable, allowme to call your attention totwo undefeated college elevensthat play ball just 22 miles orso up the road from Foxboroand which are both betterknown for their academicsthan athletics.

Yes, even in these dayswhen collegiate gridders canallegedly get away with sexualassault, sign autographs andmemorabilia for profit, getcharged with domestic vio-lence, and attend “invisible”classes and submit “invisible”essays, there’s a couple ofBoston-area collegiate teamsthat can still enforce disciplineand which were undefeatedheading into clashes this week-end.

Harvard, that bastion of IvyLeague brainpower, sported an

unblemished 9-0 record as ittackled rival Yale (8-1) onSaturday. But great seasons arereally nothing new for theCrimson, which has had threeundefeated seasons in its histo-ry and is about to win its thirdIvy League championship inthe last four seasons.

Would you believe that noless than 13 players on the cur-rent Hah-vahd football rosterwere recruited from Texas highschools, right under our verynoses? These are kids withacademic as well as athleticprowess who could have beenplaying for Texas colleges —like right here at Sam HoustonState, for example — beforethe Crimson lured them away.

How, for example, did widereceivers Eric Gan of CollegeStation and Karson Ota ofKaty, or defensive back SethStudebaker of Fredericksburg,find their way out of the LoneStar State and beat a path toMassachusetts? ( I guess theymarched to the beat of a differ-ent drummer, as a NewEngland scholar once wrote.)

Championship footballteams at Harvard, however, arereally nothing new, so let meenlighten you about a newgridiron “powerhouse” thatarose from nowhere this year,a team located in Cambridgeright down the Charles Riverfrom Harvard. It’s anotherschool with brainpower, onewhere faculty and alumni havewon about as many NobelPrizes in physics, medicineand chemistry over the years(81) as football games (80).

(True, they’ve also won sev-eral Nobel Prizes in econom-ics, but since White Houseconsultant and MIT economicsprofessor Jonathan Gruber hasbeen in the news recently forspeaking about “the stupidityof the American voter” in notseeing through the deceptive-ness of the Affordable CareAct (aka ObamaCare), Ithought it best not to talk abouteconomics, so I won’t.)

Yes, the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology —

nicknamed the Engineers —compiled an undefeated 9-0regular-season record this yearunder head football coachChad Martinovich, headinginto yesterday’s playoff contestagainst the once-beatenHusson Eagles of Bangor,Maine. This first round of theNCAA Division III footballchampionship was played atHusson’s home field in Bangoron a cloudy New England daywith game-time temperatureshovering right around freezing.

The clash featured MIT,winner of the New EnglandFootball Conference (that’sNEFC, not to be confused withNFC), against the 8-1 Eagles,best in the Eastern CollegiateFootball Conference.

MIT nailed down its first-ever undefeated season a weekago with a 24-13 victory overthe U.S. Coast GuardAcademy, following wins oversuch unheralded football pro-grams as Pomona-Pitzer,Becker College, CurryCollege, Nichols College,Western New England,Endicott College and MaineMaritime.

All right, MIT’s footballopponents aren’t as formidableas those of Alabama, FloridaState or Mississippi State. Andto be sure, the school, whichboasts Tim the Beaver as itsmascot, does not belong on thesame playing field with thosegridiron stalwarts. But put theMIT players in a classroom(something unfamiliar to play-ers at some of the big-timepowerhouses) and theCambridge gridders will out-point them every time.

Mascot Tim (it’s MITspelled backwards in case youdidn’t notice) is a beaver anddates back exactly 100 years,when the university’s president— after being advised at a for-mal banquet in New York Citythat Princeton had a tiger, Yalea bulldog, and Wisconsin abadger while MIT had no one— approved the beaver asMIT’s mascot “because of itsremarkable engineering and

mechanical skill and its habitof industry.” (Dams built bybeavers are quite a significantconstruction accomplishment,after all.)

Playing for what is arguablythe brainiest college footballteam in our nation isn’t with-out its share of problems.Senior middle linebacker CamWagar laments, for example, “Itend to overthink a lot. ...There would be times I wouldjust freeze because I wasthinking too much.”

Wagar added, “We joke onthe defense that the hardestthing during the week is notthe game, it’s your test duringthe week.”

MIT head coachMartinovich (Hobart College,’94) told CBS’s Charlie Roselast week, “If they have a 7:30a.m. test, we’ll excuse themfrom practice so they canfocus on academics.” Andsumming up for CBS,Martinovich said, “There’sprobably a better chance ofmost of these kids owning anNFL team than playing onone.” (Robert Kraft,Columbia,’63, owns the NewEngland Patriots.)

Yes, the proud tradition ofthe student-athlete is still aliveat some college campuses, soamateurism still has a place incollege sports. In an era ofsemi-pro football and basket-ball programs at too many col-leges and universities, that’skind of refreshing.

Oh yes, breaking news: InSaturday’s Division III playoffgame, MIT outlasted theEagles of Husson 27-20 inovertime. The Engineers arestill undefeated and still chug-ging toward a national champi-onship.

The little Engineers that could

Bob Orkand, an Elkins Lake resi-dent, taught English and social stud-ies at high schools in Huntsville,Livingston and Houston. He attend-ed college back East, where it wassaid of legendary football coach LouLittle, “Every Saturday afternoon atBaker Field, Coach Little suited uptwo football players and nine stu-dents.”

11-23 Page 4a Opinion_Layout 1 11/22/14 7:33 Pm Page 1

Opinion Page policy

Write your officialsSTaTeGov. Rick PerryPO Box 12428austin, TX 78711512-463-2000http://governor.state.tx.us/

State Rep. John OttoP.O. Box 2910austin, TX 78768-2910512- 463-0570Fax: 512-463-0315district Office:P.O. Box 965dayton, TX 77535(936) 258-8135Fax (936) 258-7190

State Sen. Charles SchwertnerP.O. Box 12068Capitol Stationaustin, Texas 78711(512) 463-0105(512) 463-5713 (fax)

NaTiONalPresident Barack ObamaThe White House1600 Pennsylvania ave., nWWashington, d.C. 20500202-456-1111http://www.whitehouse.gov

U.S. Sen. John CornynUnited States SenateWashington, d.C. 20510-4305202-224-2934http://www.cornyn.senate.gov

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruzroom B40Bdirksen Senate Office BuildingWashington, d.C. 20510202-224-5922http://cruz.senate.gov

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady301 Cannon BuildingWashington, d.C. 20515202-225-4901Huntsville office: (936) 439-9532www.house.gov/brady











©2011. The Huntsville Item is published mornings seven days a weekat 1409 10th St., Huntsville, TX 77342, by The Huntsville Item. USPS254-580. Second class postage paid at Huntsville, TX 77340. POST-MASTER: Send address changes to The Huntsville Item, PO Box 539,Huntsville, TX 77342.

Subscription rates:

Rita Haldeman

Publisher

[email protected]

Tom Waddill

Editor

[email protected]

[email protected]

Bill Hamilton

Business manager

[email protected]

Polly Johnson


[email protected]

Cecil Poe

Production director

[email protected]

The Huntsville Item encouragessubmissions to our Opinion Page. Wewelcome diverse and varied opinions.However, unless explicitly noted, noopinion expressed on this page reflectsthe editorial position of The HuntsvilleItem.

Letters will be published unless theycontain content deemed inappropriateor in poor taste.

Letters need to be 250 words orfewer. The Item reserves the right toedit letters for length and language andto reject letters that:








Email your letters to us [email protected]. Includeyour letter in the body of the email.

OpinionT H E H U n T S v I L L E I T E m S U n d ay, d E C E m B E r 1 4 , 2 0 1 4 / 4 a

The iTeM’s VieW

Texas lawmaker pushing a ‘cost-saving’ billthat will stifle government accountability

Politicians, especially when it’s electionseason, talk a lot about transparency. Theypromise to make available loads of infor-mation about policies and decisions madeat City Hall, the state Capitol andCongress.

A Texas lawmaker — state Rep.Jonathan Strickland (R-Bedford) — ispushing a bill that makes us wonder howserious he is about keeping citizensinformed and making transparent govern-ment goings-on at the local and state lev-els.

Strickland’s bill would make optionalthe requirement that local governmentagencies in Texas publish actions andintents as public notices in local newspa-pers.

If enacted into law, those governmentagencies would only be required to postthose notices on the state comptroller’swebsite; a short blurb listing the comptrol-ler’s web address would appear in the localpaper.

Public notices are vital. They alert citi-zens to important government informationsuch as tax increases, zoning changes,school attendance zone revisions, bondissues, contract bids, large government pur-chases or planned projects that involve theenvironment or quality-of-life impactssuch as landfills.

Reading a notice in the newspaper mightbe the first, and sometimes only way, citi-zens find out about government action thatdirectly impacts them, their neighbor-hoods, their children’s schools or family

business. We believe, and the folks at the Texas

Press Association believe, that publicnotices are critical to informing citizensabout what their local government is doing.Publishing them in newspapers and theirwebsites makes the notices available to thewidest possible audience.

Few people visit, much less read, wonkygovernment websites. They are often con-fusing and hard to navigate. The averageperson doesn’t surf government sites whiledrinking coffee in the morning.

Strickland’s House Bill 139 is the sameas digging a mass grave for public informa-tion. By taking public notices out of localnewspapers, government agencies arekilling transparency, putting public infor-mation out of mind by putting it out ofsight.

The Strickland bill also has significanteconomic consequences, even thoughadvocates of it seldom mention them. Theytrumpet the savings from dollars now spenton newspaper advertising.

Imagine every city, county, school dis-trict, appraisal district, hospital district —every political subdivision — in the state ofTexas sending public notices to the comp-troller’s office in Austin. That’s an over-whelming amount of data.

The comptroller’s office would need toadd several people to process and curatethe thousands upon thousands of local pub-lic notices on a central state site. The direc-tor of the Texas Legislative Budget Boardestimates it would also cost big bucks for a

computer system to handle the load and tomaintain the software and hardware.

Texas law now requires that newspapersprint public notices at their lowest pub-lished classified rates; the taxpayer is get-ting the best bargain. The fees help defraythe cost of paper, ink and distribution. Plusthe notices are widely circulation on thepapers’ websites, and aggregated fromthroughout Texas on a central press associ-ation site.

Think about the last time you thoughtabout checking a government website. Itwas probably to pay a ticket or your waterbill, not to look for a tax increase. That’sthe job of news outlets, which is why thecurrent system has been in place as long asit has.

We have no problem with also publish-ing public notices on government websites,but they should continue to be required forpublication in newspapers and their web-sites.

Newspapers are separate from the gov-ernment. Their purpose is to keep a watch-ful eye on government. They provideaccountability and hold government offi-cials to their promises of openness, notopaqueness.

Strickland’s bill got nowhere in the lastTexas legislative session, and we urge thestate’s lawmakers to assign it the same fatein next year’s session.

Newspapers can survive no matter what,but should this bill become law in Texas,government’s accountability to the publicwill suffer a crippling blow.

By BoB orkand

Item ColumnIst

Next time you’re passingthrough Lubbock, try button-holing a couple of Texas Techstudents and politely inquire ofthem, “Who won the CivilWar?”

Chances are you’ll draw ablank. So try this next ques-tion: “Who was in the CivilWar?” (More blank stares.)

I’m not making this up byany means, no sirree. Take alook at a video on YouTubeand other online sites in whicha young female reporter fromPoliTech (a nonpartisan politi-cal organization at Texas Techthat “focuses on bringingimportant political informationto students”) roams the RedRaider campus asking “tough”questions such as the above,along with “Who is the vicepresident of the UnitedStates?”

“Huh? I know aboutObama, but the vice president,,, ?”

For purposes of discussion,let’s assume that the vastmajority of TTU’s 32,000 stu-dents are graduates of highschools right here in the LoneStar State. It follows then, thatthese students successfullypassed the half-credit, half-semester course in UnitedStates Government which isrequired by the State of Texasin order to graduate from highschool.

At Huntsville High School,for example, students in theirsenior year take a semester ofGovernment and one of eco-nomics as fulfillment of theirfour-year social studiesrequirement, a practice inplace at most Texas highschools. The statewide TEKS(Texas Essential Knowledgeand Skills) for the UnitedStates Government coursewent into effect with the 2011-2012 school year and runsalmost nine single-spacedpages on the Texas EducationAgency (TEA) website, in

effect establishing the requiredcurriculum for the class.

So the Texas Tech studentswho were so blissfullyunaware of some elements ofour nation’s history and gov-ernment (and I’m confidentthat surveys of undergraduatesat many other institutions ofhigher learning in our statewould show similarly embar-rassing results) apparentlypassed their senior-levelGovernment class and forgotmany of the salient details bythe time they arrived in col-lege.

Here’s how the TEKS intro-duces the class: “In UnitedStates Government, the focusis on the principles and beliefsupon which the United Stateswas founded and on the struc-ture, functions, and powers ofgovernment at the national,state, and local levels. Thiscourse is the culmination ofthe civic and governmentalcontent and concepts studiedfrom Kindergarten throughrequired secondary courses.”

You’ve got the idea, right?In the senior year of highschool, Texas high school stu-dents are expected to consum-mate everything they’velearned about our nation’scivics and government overthe previous 12 years of theireducational experiences.

A few of the TEKS expecta-tions for the Governmentclass:

• “Analyse the impact ofpolitical changes broughtabout by individuals, politicalparties, interest groups, and themedia in the U.S. political sys-tem, past and present.”

• “Analyse how U.S. foreignpolicy affects selected placesand regions.”

• “Explain major politicalideas in history, including thelaws of nature and nature’sGod, unalienable rights, divinerights of kings, social contracttheory, and the rights of resist-ance to illegitimate govern-ments.”

(Are you surprised that the

expression “nature’s God” sur-vives in this era of politicalcorrectness? Well, after all,that’s the way Tom (“BigRed”) Jefferson wrote them inthe opening paragraph of hisDeclaration of Independence,which has somehow miracu-lously survived unscathed eversince July 4, 1776, when itwas promulgated at the birthof our nation.)

OK, the point is this: Toomany high school students —in Texas and elsewhere —don’t have the foggiest ideaabout how our governmentfunctions and the underlyingtenets behind our democracy.

Ah, but some states aredoing something about it.Earlier this month, NorthDakota — led by its First LadyBetsy Dalrymple (husbandJack is the state’s governor)and state school superintendentKirsten Baesler — unveiled aproposal requiring every highschool student in the PeaceGarden State to get a passinggrade on a civics exam inorder to graduate. The measureis presently being discussed inNorth Dakota’s state legisla-ture.

Legislatures in seven otherstates including Arizona,Louisiana, Missouri,Oklahoma, South Carolina andUtah are currently consideringmeasures requiring students topass a civics test.

What civics test, youinquire? (As loyal Texans,many of us are dead setagainst standardized testing,even though it sets a reason-able bar for what students areexpected to know.) Well, holdonto your Stetsons, folks: Thecivics test being used as amodel is the very same oneadministered to people fromoverseas who aspire to become(legally, in this case) Americancitizens. It’s known officiallyas the U.S. CitizenshipNaturalization Test and it’s inuse for the years 2014, 2015and 2016.

The test for immigrants con-

sists of exactly 100 history andgovernment questions such as:What is the supreme law of theland? What does theConstitution do? What are thefirst three words of theConstitution? What did theDeclaration of Independencedo?

From this bank of 100 ques-tions, applicants for U.S. citi-zenship are asked six. Thequestions are administeredorally in the English languageand candidates are required torespond in English.

(For a local example, checkthe article that ran in the Item’sHive section this pastWednesday, authored by KarenManzano of Huntsville HighSchool, about the dedicationwith which HHS juniorMohammad Yar and his familyof Pakistani immigrants strovefor 10 years to become U.S.citizens, including passing the“Naturalization Test” and itsslate of six random questionsout of 100.)

So in an era when some inour nation are anxious torewrite history, renouncingmany of the principles articu-lated by our Founding Fathers,it’s reassuring that in somestates actions are being takento grab the attention of highschool students that there’smore to being an Americanthan just knowing which rockstar is married to whom andwhich is the hottest new selfie.

Speaking of FoundingFathers, I wonder how manyof today’s college studentscould name three or four ofthem. Let’s see, there wasGeorge Washington. Um, wasAbraham Lincoln a FoundingFather?

How about TheodoreRoosevelt?

Civics 101: Who won the Civil War?

Bob Orkand, an Elkins Lake resi-dent, taught English and social stud-ies at high schools in Huntsville,Livingston and Houston, and alsotaught courses in media manage-ment at the University of HoustonSchool of Communication.

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