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Page 6A - Sunday, May 29, 2011 - Plainview Herald www.MyPlainview.com
Herald
OPINION
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Citizen request: Stripe 11th St.
To the Editor:
This is an open letter
to the City of Plainview:
A request — Stripe 11th
Street.
Two months ago, my
wife nearly totaled her
car with our two small
children inside. The other
driver was at fault for trying
to pass her on the right
side when she was turning
right.
Four months ago, my
very good friend did have
his car totaled at 2 a.m.
when a driver thought 11th
Street had two lanes in
both directions. As a result,
he smashed into the back
of my friend’s car, which
Letters to the Editor
should be addressed to: The
Plainview Herald, Attn.:
Kevin Lewis, P.O. Box 1240,
Plainview, TX 79072; or by
e-mail: kwlewis@hearstnp.
com All submissions should
include the writer’s name,
address and daytime phone
My adoptive parents told
me I was “chosen,” but the
kids at school told me I was
a “bastard.”
The recent headlines about
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s
infi delities and the son he
fathered out of wedlock have
stirred many old memories
and emotions.
I was four years old when
I learned I was adopted. It
was just before my sister
Maureen’s eighth birthday.
I told her, “I know what
you’re getting for your
birthday.”
“Don’t spoil the secret,”
she said. “If you tell me, I’m
going to tell you a secret!”
Well, that was the wrong
thing to say! I had to know
what she was keeping from
me! I said, “You’re getting a
blue dress for your birthday.”
Maureen said, “And you
were adopted.”
I ran off to fi nd our
mother, Jane Wyman, in the
den. I asked her, “What does
‘adopted’ mean?”
Mom’s eyes fl ashed dan-
Mallard Fillmore
was parallel parked on the
curb in front of his house.
The driver assumed 11th
Street was four lanes, two
in each direction.
If 11th street is a twolane
street, one in each
direction, fi ne. If it is a
four-lane street, two in
each direction, fi ne, but it
is the city’s responsibility
to make this clear to the
public.
The city can do this by
striping the road. Until
you do so, there will
continue to be confusion,
and people’s lives will be
at risk.
Matt Smith
Plainview
number. We will not publish
street address, e-mail address
or phone number.
Submissions are limited to
one per person per month.
Please avoid handwritten
letters, if possible.
All letters are subject to
editing for length, content,
grammar, punctuation, etc.
gerously. “Where did you
hear that word?” she asked.
After Mom fi nished
dealing with Maureen, she
sat me down and explained
adoption to me. “You are a
chosen child,” she said, “and
that makes you special. We
love you very much.”
I could tell that being
“chosen” was a good thing.
But I also realized for the
fi rst time that Mom wasn’t
my “real” mother — that
I had another mother who
had mysteriously given me
away.
One day, when I was in
the second grade, I got into
a playground argument with
another boy. We took turns
one-upping each other. “I’m
better than you,” I said. “I’m
special ’cause I was chosen!
I was adopted!”
The other boy didn’t
know how to answer that,
but the next day he came
back to school and laughed
at me. “My parents told me
what ‘adopted’ means,” he
said. “You’re not special —
you’re a bastard! Your real
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Appraisals like a tax increase
To the Editor:
Well, my fellow residents
of Plainview, they did it to
us again. Our local appraisal
district effectively raised our
taxes again. Not directly,
to be sure, but by raising
the appraised value of our
property they raised the dollar
value by which the city,
county and school assess
taxes against.
Last year the city raised
our taxes something like
1.79 percent. Coupled with
last year’s huge, and this
year’s modest appraisal increases,
(it) probably put the
effective tax increase around
3 percent, if not more.
There are mandates in
Texas that make any tax
increase of 2-3 percent (I
cannot recall exactly what
that magic number is) subject
to a rollback election.
That is, people would have
the right to petition for such
an election and, if they win,
the people could roll the tax
rate back to a lower level
than where it began.
Believe me, the city,
county and school do not
advertise this fact because
in their heart of hearts know
they would lose such an
election every time. They
do not want you to have this
option, so they skirt the legalities
by raising your taxes
just below that point and
letting the appraisal district
do the rest.
Legal? Yes. Moral and
honest? No. They hide behind
these loopholes, smile,
shake your hand, kiss your
babies and tell you how hard
they work to keep your taxes
low. Shame on them.
I can’t wait to see how
the school district makes the
new high school fl oat. Yes,
mother wasn’t married, so
she gave you away — bastard!”
That’s when I realized
there was something horribly
wrong with me. I never
again bragged about being
“chosen,” and I never again
felt “special.” But I did feel
marked.
I wondered, “Why did
my birth mother give me
away? Was it because I’m
a bastard?” I fi gured Mom
couldn’t have known I was
illegitimate or she wouldn’t
have adopted me. And I
didn’t want her to fi nd out!
When I returned home,
I went to the library where
Mom kept a huge leatherbound
Bible. She’d once
told me that the Bible had
all the answers. I was seven
years old and had never read
the Bible on my own, so
I turned to the back of the
Bible to see if there was an
index. Sure enough, I found
the concordance.
I looked for the word
“bastard” — and there
it was. The concordance
the school is old, but so is
my house. When something
breaks I just have to suck it
up and fi x it. Why can’t they
learn to live within the constraints
that all the taxpayers
have to live under?
How do I know these
things? Because I used to
be one of them, serving two
four-year terms as the mayor
of another West Texas community.
Have you ever wondered
why your house payment
goes up every year? Well,
in my own feeble way I just
tried to tell you why. Your
taxes may not have gone up,
but you can bet a dollar to a
doughnut that your appraisal
went up.
Smoke and mirrors,
sleight of hand. They would
make David Copperfi eld
green with envy. If our
business community tries to
operate in this manner, they
would throw them under the
jail and wail on about what
charlatons they were.
Why doesn’t the editorial
board of the Herald bring this
shell game to light? I can’t
speak for anyone else, but
I, for one, don’t give a hoot
about the Green Bay Packers.
A newspaper in Washington,
D.C., once brought
down a sitting president
when he was being less than
honest. Yes, to be fair, you
reported the tax increase, but
did you report the percentage
increase when coupled with
the higher appraisals?
Why doesn’t the Herald
tell the people that they have
the right to fi re everybody
at that appraisal district by
electing people to the council,
mayorship, school board
and county commission
that will truly represent the
directed me to Deuteronomy
23:2, where I read: “A bastard
shall not enter into the
congregation of the Lord;
even to his tenth generation
shall he not enter into the
congregation of the Lord.”
My heart froze. I thought
those words meant, “A bastard
can never go to Heaven.
A bastard is damned to
Hell, and so are his kids and
grandkids, down to the tenth
generation.”
I snapped the book
shut — and I didn’t open a
Bible again for more than
25 years. Of course, that
verse had nothing to do
with Heaven or Hell — but
how could a seven-year-old
understand such things?
I thought, “That’s why my
birth mother got rid of me!
Nobody wants a child who’s
going to Hell! And Mom’s
so religious! If she fi nds out
I’m going to Hell, she won’t
want me anymore!” So, at
age seven, I began to hate
myself — and God.
The story of my spiritual
and emotional redemption
is in my book “Twice
Adopted.” But the story
I’m thinking about now is
the painful story of Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s son. I
keep hearing chattering
people and do what’s right?
How much do we the
people pay these appraisers?
They are paid with
tax dollars, so it should be
public information. What
kind of benefi ts do we the
people provide for these
people when there’s a pot
load of people in Plainview
who can’t afford insurance?
How many tax dollars does
the city spend every year on
the Texas Municipal League
convention/vacation? Are all
our elected offi cials current
on all their taxes like they
expect us to be?
Come on, Herald, quit trying
to be everyone’s friend.
It didn’t seem to bother you
when you plastered a good,
moral, Christian man who
served Plainview honorably
for so many years like Dr.
(Joe) Horn’s troubles all
over the front page.
William Nelson
Plainview
Editor’s Note: According
to Hale County Chief Appraiser
Nikki Branscum, appraisals
are based on sales of
similar properties in particular
neighborhoods within the
city. The appraisal offi ce is
required to appraise all similar
properties at the same
ratio. They operate under the
tax codes and guidelines of
the state comptroller’s offi ce,
and not any local entity.
The Hale County Appraisal
District Board’s
quarterly meetings are open
to the public. Budget fi gures
are published annually in the
Herald.
The fact that the editor
has written about the Green
Bay Packers in his personal
column has no bearing on
the paper’s unbiased news
coverage.
There are no illegitimate kids, just illegitimate parents
MICHAEL
REAGAN
heads on TV referring to the
boy as Schwarzenegger’s
“illegitimate” son. It makes
my blood boil. Listen,
there’s no such thing as an
illegitimate child. There are
only illegitimate parents.
And Arnold, I hope you
read this: Your son is not the
bastard. You’re the bastard.
You’re the illegitimate parent.
I don’t say that to insult
you. I say it for your own
good. I say it because you
need to face these facts.
You’ve been a bastard up
till now, but you can change
that. You can man up. You
can sit down with your son,
acknowledge him, apologize
to him, admit that you failed
him, promise to love him
and begin to protect him
from ridicule.
That boy is going to need
a lot of love and affi rmation
from his father. Why?
Because the bastards in the
media have gone after him,
publishing horrible, humiliating
stories, putting his
picture on the Internet and
subjecting him to ridicule at
school.
Arnold, you’ve always
played a hero in the movies.
But now the whole world
knows it was just an act.
How would you like to be a
real hero for a change?
It is time to stop being
a bastard and start being a
father.
Michael Reagan is the son of
President Ronald Reagan, a political
consultant and the author of “The
New Reagan Revolution.”
Reagan@caglecartoons.com
Page 6A
Sunday, May 29, 2011
MyPlainview.com/opinion
BILL
O’REILLY
Elvis is
to blame
The success of 25-yearold
Stefani Germanotta,
aka Lady Gaga, is really
the fault of Elvis Presley,
who would completely
understand the woman’s
immense drawing power.
Back in the mid-1950s, the
United States was largely
a conformist nation.
Americans had endured
the strict discipline of a
vicious World War and
those who had served in
the military were strongly
committed to obeying
the power structure and
playing by society’s rules.
Largely because of that,
there was a sameness to
American life in the ’50s
that bored some younger
Americans. And so, like
James Dean, millions of
teenagers became rebels
without a cause.
Enter a young singer
from Tupelo, Miss., named
Elvis Presley. Armed with
long, slicked back hair,
sideburns and a nonthreatening
sneer, Presley
captured the imagination
of young people everywhere.
Although polite in
speech, Presley’s actions
were daring — swiveling
his hips suggestively as
he sang about rocking in
a jailhouse. Before long,
Elvis was America’s biggest
star, sending some
conservative Americans
into spasms of indignation.
Today, Lady Gaga is
channeling her inner Elvis
as our time, in some ways,
parallels the 1950s. Faced
with a non-stop barrage of
high-tech gibberish, some
young people have become
jaded and are tuning
out the recession, the wars
and the intense competition
to make a buck. They
value individuality and
excitement, which Lady
Gaga provides almost
non-stop. Thus, Gaga has
become a symbol as well
as a entertainer.
Ms. Germanotta’s
music is OK — a series
of dance tunes that are
almost disco-like. But her
voice doesn’t come close
to what Elvis had going.
No, it is Gaga’s persona
that has pushed her to the
top of the charts. Here’s a
young woman who doesn’t
seem to give a fl ip about
what anyone thinks of her.
Flashing her tattoos, she is
the epitome of a working
class girl, even though she
attended private school
and studied music at the
Tisch School of Arts. Her
outrageous stage presence
is right out of the Madonna
playbook, and there
is no question that she is
marketing herself to an
audience who, to quote the
song “Grease,” believes
that conventionality belongs
to yesterday.
The problem is that
while the lady may portray
herself as a tramp, she
cannot possibly keep up
the frenetic pace. Watching
her HBO special,
your eyes glaze. Running
all over the stage, Gaga
makes Mick Jagger look
like Rip Van Winkle. She
changes costumes after
almost every number, fi nding
a multitude of ways
to expose herself to an
audience that loves every
minute of it.
But how long can you
do that?
Elvis burned out after
a few years, went into
hiding as the Beatles took
over, and then emerged as
a comeback kind of guy.
The struggle, however,
took his life. He died at
42, but his legacy endures.
Stefani’s legacy is
anyone’s guess, but the
odds are that she will have
to settle for being a period
piece. It is indeed Lady
Gaga’s time. I just hope
she’s saving her money.
Veteran TV news anchor Bill
O’Reilly is host of the Fox News
show “The O’Reilly Factor” and
author of the book “Pinheads and
Patriots: Where You Stand
in the Age of Obama.”