www.MyCounty-Line.com --- APRIL 2014
Big Country Ce ntr al Texas E d i t i o n
Volume 7 Issue 78
National News and Opinions mixed with Local Small Town History and Story Telling. Representing the Small-Town Conservative Viewpoint, Values & Patriotism!
~Mike Norris, Owner & Publisher
Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
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In This Issue:
On The Cover Growing Up Small Town Texas Conservative Michael Ramirez Informed Voter Tumbleweed Smith Good Neighbors Treasure Hunters Love Lessons Huddle Up! Breckenridge Wall Distribution Map Word Search Cisco Loboes Territory Welcome to Rising Star This Week In Texas History B.C. The Wizard of ID
COVER ART:
The fountains in front of Baylor All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All. B:510-152550100200
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www.MyCounty-Line.com vol.7 Issue 78 CPAC 2014: Senator Ted Cruz
If you have a president who is picking and choosing which laws to follow, and which laws to ignore, you no longer have a president. ~ Ted Cruz
Good morning. God bless CPAC. Now I do have to start with a bit of bad news this morning. I’m sorry to tell you that by virtue of you being here today, tomorrow morning each and every one of you are going to be audited by the IRS, so I appreciate the courage of your convictions. Yesterday Lois Lerner went before Congress and yet again pleaded the Fifth, and of course, President Obama told Bill O’Reilly during the Super Bowl, there’s not a smidgen of corruption with the IRS. It reminded me of one of my favorite movies: “You keep on using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” Somehow my understanding of a ‘smidgen’ is a little different from his. I want to thank y’all for being here. You are here today at CPAC because you understand the stakes in this country have never been higher. You are here because you understand that this country is at a crisis point. We are at the edge of a cliff. Liberty is under assault, and what I want to talk to you about this morning is how we win. There are a lot of D.C. consultants that say there is a choice for Republicans to make. We can either make the choice to keep our head down and not rock the boat, to not stand for anything or we can stand for principle and they say, if you stand for principle, you lose elections. The way to do it, the smart way, the Washington way is don’t stand against ObamaCare, don’t stand against the debt ceiling, don’t stand against nothing. I want to tell you something, that is a false dichotomy. You want to lose elections, stand for nothing. Look at the last four Congressional elections, ’06, ’08, ’10 and ’12 — of three of the four we followed that strategy, ’06, ’08, and ’12, we put our head down, we stood for nothing and we got walloped. The one election that was a tremendous election was 2010 when Republicans drew a line in the sand. We said, unequivocally, we stand against ObamaCare, against bankrupting the country and we won in an historic tidal wave of an election. And then of course, all of us remember President Dole and President McCain and President Romney — now look, those are good men, they’re decent men but when you don’t stand and draw a clear distinction, when you don’t stand for principle, Democrats celebrate, so I’m going to stand here today and let’s take, for example, young people. Are there any young people here today [applause]? I’ve got to note, by the way, everyone should be cheering at that. Everyone is young at heart. If you’re at CPAC, by definition, you are a young person because you believe in the future of America. I want to give you an example of how we win young people, and that’s an example of how we win elections across the board. I’m going to suggest a radical agenda to you: Hope and Change [laughter]. You look at the last five years of President Obama and hope has diminished across the world. The people of Ukraine has seen Russian tanks move into their sovereign land as the nation of Israel has been left without its friend and ally, the United States of America. You look at home where the lowest labor force participation since 1978, millions have lost hope, because under President Obama, the American dream is harder and harder for anyone to achieve. I gotta tell you, change, real change, is changing the corrupt and broken system that is here in Washington, D.C.
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3Growing Up Small Town
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, Mike W. Norris
Introducing FreedomWorks.org Education Series Democracy, Power, Government & Freedom by Mike W. Norris
“A government debt is a government claim against personal income and private property – an unpaid tax bill.” - Hans F. Sennholz Young Americans Abused and Taxed Without Representation
By Ted Abram Government debt is abusing young Americans. Willfully created by the federal, state and city governments, this debt will be the burden and obligation of the young and unborn. Tragically, this is a universal scourge of democracies. Popularly-elected politicians please their current voters by bestowing goodies (promises) on them and sticking future workers with the tax bill. Young Americans need to comprehend! A government debt is a government claim against personal income and private property – an unpaid tax bill, as Hans F. Sennholz claimed. Hence, young Americans must pay the debts created by former and present politicians - Democrats and Republicans alike. These politicians are depriving future workers of a portion of their personal income - which is the fruit of their intellect, knowledge, labor and time. Simultaneously, it’s also reducing their freedom. At the Federal level, our youth are going to pay for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Most of these programs existed before their birth. Federal politicians have already spent Social Security tax revenues on other government programs. Young Americans will be *stuck *with paying for Social Security benefits. City and state governments have promised expensive pension plans for government workers, which they have not saved enough to fund. And...again, young Americans will pay those pensions. Americans fought the Revolutionary War against England to stop Taxation without Representation. Young Americans, government debt is exactly the same as it was when we fought the Brits. You have been abused. Worse, government continues to abuse you. ObamaCare is all about healthy, young Americans paying for older, sick Americans. Even worse, ObamaCare will increase the debt by more than a trillion dollars. Yes, you can add that to your abuse list, too. Until young Americans understand the on-going abuse of government debt, the political process – federal, state and municipal – will ignore your crushing tax obligations. Again, politicians will do anything to please current voters. Only, a strong political force lead by young Americans will stop the on-going abuse. Call to Action: The process is straight forward. First, define the problem.
Second, organize an informational and political campaign. Let me introduce FreedomWorks, which I have been associated with for over 10 years. The staff at FreedomWorks is young, smart, talented and dedicated to smaller government, less taxes and freedom. FreedomWorks has excellent media outreach and grassroots organizational skills – they are the best. Now is the time for young Americans to protect their future and restore freedom. It is imperative for young leaders to step forward to reduce the debts created by government. Only young, vibrant Americans can make change happen. Time is of the essence. Personal Freedom and the American Government
“The distinctive principle of Western social philosophy is individualism. It aims at the creation of a sphere in which the individual is free to think, to choose, and to act without being restrained by the interference of the social apparatus of coercion and oppression, the State. All the spiritual and material achievements of Western civilization were the result of the operation of this idea of liberty.” -Ludwig von Mises
The political elites are perplexed. Why doesn’t the American public appreciate their leadership? Why are Americans repugnant to enormous public debt, restrictive regulations, bailouts of Wall Street, union ownership of General Motors, cheating secure bond holders, earmarks, the mandates of ObamaCare, commandeering a sixth of the American economy, and an endless list of arrogant power plays? Over the past few years, the public has awakened and become infuriated by the corrupt process involved with the passage of ObamaCare. Businesses were threatened and bribed and the compliant players will become rich. Additionally, politicians were bribed: the Louisiana Purchase and the Cornhusker Kickback to name two of the enumerable unknown “deals.” Previously, the public was incensed by the increase in public debt created by Bush and the Republicans. Wrongfully and wastefully, DeLay and Hastert dispensed earmarks for political gain. Today, the public is infuriated with the coercion and oppression by government caused by Republicans and Democrats. Hence, the independent voter and Tea Parties have spontaneously formed and expanded as a countervailing force. And, for the third election cycle the politicians in power have been punished. Continued on page 11...
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4Texas Conservative ■
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, Chuck Norris - The Man
In God We Trust United We Stand
By Chuck Norris
Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook’s “Official Chuck Norris Page.” He blogs at http://chucknorrisnews.blogspot.com. US Air Force Airbrushes Religious Liberty Again
Fox News reported a few weeks ago about how the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., removed a Bible verse from a cadet’s personal whiteboard. I am personally so disappointed that the branch of service that I served in to protect our freedoms is now trying to suppress them. When one walks the dorm halls of the Air Force Academy, one immediately notices the hundreds of whiteboards hanging on students’ doors. This past week, Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., cited Air Force officials who explained that cadets “often use these boards to display items, quotes or other things that reflect their personality or from which they draw inspiration.” I guess the Bible is the wrong type of inspiration, at least according to some Air Force leaders. The host of “Fox News and Commentary,” Todd Starnes, reported that Mikey Weinstein, director of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said that “29 cadets and four faculty and staff members contacted” his “organization to complain about the Christian passage.” Within two hours of Weinstein’s calling the academy and filing a complaint, the cadet’s whiteboard had been whitewashed. Why is it that 29 cadets and four faculty members can exercise their antireligious sentiment by communicating their grievances against the display of a Bible passage but a single cadet cannot exercise his own pro-religious sentiment by communicating his faith on his own personal whiteboard? According to The Blaze, as a result, many cadets revolted in protest and solidarity by posting their own passages from the Bible and the Quran on their whiteboards. Outside the academy, a new billboard has been posted near the entrance to the Air Force training school by the Restore Military Religious Freedom coalition, according to WorldNetDaily. The billboard contains a picture of the presidential faces on Mount Rushmore -- George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt -- and addresses Air Force cadets: “Are you free to say So help me God? They did.” The bottom contains the coalition’s Web address: militaryfreedom.org. Despite everyone’s efforts to encourage religious freedom among Air Force Academy cadets, chaplain Gordon J. Klingenschmitt, Ph.D., recently and sadly reported that “Air Force Academy government lawyers continue to threaten cadets with punishment for posting Bible verses on their personal white-boards, according to a Christian attorney who spoke to the lawyers and several cadets.” I agree with retired Army Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, now executive vice president of the Family Research Council, who explained to Starnes: “Once the academy allowed cadets to use these whiteboards for their personal use, censorship of religious commentary is unacceptable. Either the Air Force Academy is very confused about the Constitution of the United States or they don’t really believe in the liberties that are provided by that document. In essence, what they are doing is preparing young men and women to defend the Constitution while at the same time depriving these cadets of their own constitutional liberties.” Unfortunately, the Air Force’s whiteboard whitewashing isn’t the first prohibition of religious expression in U.S. military circles. There have been many others since our current president took office. Here’s a sample: --The Air Force Academy apologized for merely announcing Operation Christmas Child, a Christian-based charity and relief program designed to send Christmas gifts to impoverished children around the world. --Air Force officials stripped religious aspects from a 20-year-old course on “just war theory.”
--Yet, as reported in the Los Angeles Times in November 2011, the Air Force is building an $80,000 Stonehenge-like worship site for those who practice “Earth-based” religions, including “pagans, Wiccans, druids, witches and followers of Native American faiths.” --Walter Reed National Military Medical Center drafted policy that prohibited individuals from using or distributing religious items during visits to the hospital. --Boykin, though he is a war hero, couldn’t speak at the United States Military Academy because of his Christian faith. --The Marine Corps considered tearing down a Camp Pendleton cross meant to honor fallen heroes. --The Navy relocated a live Nativity scene at a base in Bahrain to the chapel area. --The Department of Veterans Affairs censored references to God and Jesus during prayers at Houston National Cemetery. --The Pentagon released regulations forcing chaplains to perform same-sex weddings, despite many chaplains’ religious objections and the fact that members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus had worked tirelessly to ensure that the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2013, which was signed into law in January, included key religious freedom protections for service members generally and chaplains specifically (Section 533). --The Pentagon revoked approval to use the logo of each service branch on the covers of Bibles sold in military exchange stores. What is going on in the U.S. military? Apparently, the military’s urge for neutrality is officially and fundamentally transforming into hostility against faith and religious expression. What is so difficult to understand about the free exercise clause in the First Amendment, which says the feds
“shall make no law ... prohibiting the free exercise” of religion? What is the White House’s response to all the military omissions and prohibitions of religious freedom and expression? Absolute silence. Apparently, the Oval Office never received Edmund Burke’s message: Evil flourishes when good men do nothing. Long gone are the days when the commander in chief wrote the prologue to the Gideons Bibles given to service members, encouraging them to find strength and courage from the contents. That’s what President Franklin D. Roosevelt did before the start of World War II: “As Commander-inChief I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the armed forces of the United States. Throughout the centuries men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the Sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel and inspiration. It is a fountain of strength and now, as always, an aid in attaining the highest aspirations of the human soul.” The only fight left is for we the people to defend our First Amendment’s freedom of religion, not espouse or enable the freedom from religion. Start in your own town, and take the battle all the way to Washington. Write or call your representatives and then the White House to voice your opinion about the assault on religious liberty occurring across our land and what you think should be done about it. You can reach the White House by calling 202-456-1111 or by visiting http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ submit-questions-and-comments. Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook’s “Official Chuck Norris Page.” He blogs at http://chucknorrisnews.blogspot. com. To find out more about Chuck Norris and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. www.MyCounty-Line.com
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5Michael Ramirez ■
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, mwnorris
Senator Ted Cruz Speaks at CPAC 2014 By mwnorris It’s election season...time to get your Google on! Continued from page 2 - “On The Cover”
How do you win young people? Who are the two Republicans in modern times who have most energized young people: Ronald Reagan and Ron Paul, so apparently, the key is being named ‘Ronald.’ If you think of it, neither one of them were young, rugged, James Dean ‘Rebel Without a Cause.’ They were septuagenarians, yet what did they do? They stood for principle. They painted a bold, inspiring vision for America for how all of us can be better and young people came out by the millions and said that’s the vision I want to be behind. If you were to sit down and try to design how to hammer the living daylights out of young people, you couldn’t do better than the Obama economic agenda. Under President Obama, we’ve had five years of great stagnation, no economic growth, which means one generation, after another, can’t find jobs. You know economists are referring to this generation of young people as a ‘lost generation.’ ObamaCare, one of the easiest ways to understand it, it’s a massive wealth transfer, from young healthy people to everybody else. And then our national debt from $10 trillion dollars to $17 trillion — who the heck do you think is going to pay for that? The Obama agenda has been horrible for people, yet how many Republicans said that? Does anyone remember in the last election, anyone going and making the case to young people, about there is a better way, a brighter future? How do we win, how do we inspire young people? No. 1, we tell the truth. This president seems to have a little problem with that. Last Fall, Jay Leno said, ‘so President Obama called me. He said, ‘Jay, if you like your job, you can keep it.’ He followed that up a couple of weeks later, he said ‘so, the holidays are coming up, Thanksgiving. You know the first Thanksgiving the Pilgrims said to the Indians, if you like your land, you can keep it. We need to tell the truth, The truth is, Washington is corrupt. There is a corrupt and inter-locking system of lobbyists and lawyers and consultants that are suckling off Washington. You are in the richest counties in the country right now, as more and more people are making great wealth in Washington, and Wall Street prospers, and main street suffers, young people suffer, Hispanics suffer, African-Americans suffer, single moms suffer, everyone struggling to achieve the American dream suffers. How do we win elections? In the contrast between corrupt Washington and the American people, we stand with the American people. We stand with a straight-forward and bold and positive agenda to inspire the young, to inspire women, to inspire Hispanics — to inspire everybody. No. 1: Defend the Constitution — all of it. Defend the First Amendment, the right to free speech, the right to a free press. For all of our friends in the media, a free press means not having government monitors sitting in your news room. The right to freedom of religion and that means, among other things, not having the IRS asking citizens: ‘tell me the content of your prayers’ We need to stand for the Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms. We need to stand for the Fourth and Fifth Amendment’s right to privacy for every American. How many of
you have your cell phones? I’m going to ask you to, please, leave them on. I want to make sure that President Obama hears everything I have to say this morning. No. 2: We need to abolish the IRS. We need to adopt a simple flat tax that is fair, that every American can fill out his taxes on a post card No. 3: We need to expand energy in this country and expand highpaying jobs all over America. President Obama talks about a $10 minimum wage. The real minimum wage, with the lowest labor force participation since 1978 under President Obama, is zero for the millions who have lost their jobs in the failed Obama economy. You know, in North Dakota in the oil fields, the average wage is $45.90 a hour. I want a lot more $40 and $50 and $60 an hour jobs and not $0 an hour unemployment. No. 4: We need to expand school choice. Every child deserves the opportunity to have an excellent education, regardless of your race, your class your creed, where you
come from. Every child deserves a fair chance at the American dream. No. 5: We need to repeal DoddFrank. Talk about a bill that you don’t have to read any further than the title to know nothing good can come of this. No. 6: We need to audit the Federal Reserve. Unaccountable power in Washington, debasing our currency, driving up the cost of food and gas and the basic stuff of life is hurting Americans who are struggling across this country. I’ll tell you what else it’s doing, it’s fueling the abuse of power of Petro-Tyrants like Putin. No. 7: We need to pass a strong balanced budget amendment. We need to stop bankrupting our country. Right now our kids and grandkids are inheriting a country where our national debt is larger than the size of our entire economy. Let me speak right now to everyone in the room who didn’t Continued on page 8...
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8Informed Voter ■
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, continued...
Continued from page 7 - “Informed Voter”
applaud when I said, ‘are there any young people here,’ what we’re doing to our kids and grandkids is morally wrong. It is an outrage. If we keep on this road, they will spend their entire lives, not to meet the needs of the future, not to meet the needs of their priorities, but instead, just working to pay off the debts that their deadbeat parents and grandparents stuck them with. Our parents didn’t do that to us. Their parents didn’t do that to them, and the reasons we’re here today is, we’re not going to do it to the next generation. We are going to turn this around. No. 8: We need to repeal every single word of ObamaCare. When millions of Americans stood up last Fall and said ‘stop this train wreck, this disaster that is ObamaCare, that is hurting millions of people,’ the Democrats said, the mainstream media said, although I repeat myself, they said this is hopeless, don’t you understand, just move on, just accept it. You can’t do anything to stop this. [audience member shouts out, ‘Yes We Can.”] Yes we can. You know, along with hope and change, that’s pretty good. No. 9: We need to stop the lawlessness. This president of the United States is the first president we’ve ever had who thinks he can choose which laws to enforce and which laws to ignore. He announces, just about every day, one change after another, after another, and ObamaCare, it is utterly lawless, it is inconsistent with our Constitution and it ought to trouble everyone, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians. Let me tell you something, if you have a president who is picking and choosing which laws to follow, and which laws to ignore, you no longer have a president. No. 10: We need to end the corruption. We need to end corporate welfare and crony capitalism. If you come to Washington and serve in Congress, there should be a lifetime ban on lobbying. Continued on page 11...
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, Bob Lewis
By Bob Lewis Chain Saw Art on a Golf Course
The Gaines County Golf Course, between Seminole and Seagraves, is a sculpture garden filled with unique wooden carvings created from trees that succumbed to the long standing drought. “We lost a lot of trees and it seemed like such a shame to see them just die,” says Kathy Davis of Seminole. “There are some really big trees out there.” Kathy wanted to do something about those dead trees that looked bad on the golf course. She contacted a well-known chainsaw artist, Cam Dockery of Whitharral. He came down and started to work. “There are nine carvings,” says Kathy. “The first one is right outside the pro shop and it is of a magnificent eagle with the American flag in its talons. It’s very patriotic and emotion provoking.” One huge tree is full of bears. “There are seven bears in this tree and they’re waving and doing all sorts of things.” Perhaps the most dramatic sculpture is a large tree parallel with the ground that has three longhorns coming out of it. “They pretty much explode out of the tree and the roots are still there. He really did a fine job on that one. It was the one that kind of changed the whole thought process of what we were doing. Instead of something kind of fun and campy it became something serious and very artistic. It’s historic, too, because it speaks to the history of our county. Getting to watch him carve those longhorns from thet big tree was an experience that’s hard to describe.” Kathy was raising money for the project when she ran into the county judge at the golf course. She asked him for a hundred dollars and when he asked her what she was going to do with the money, she told him about her plan to create something from those dead trees. He was impressed. “He told me since this was for the good of the county he thought the county could handle it and asked me how much it was going to cost. I gave him an estimate and he said the county could take care of it.”
The project, which features chain saw figures of bobcat, coyote and fox, as well as an Indian maiden, took from May to August of last year. “Most of them are trees that were and are still in the ground and he carved them right there where they grew. He could do one big carving or two small ones in a single day. The total cost for the nine carvings came to just under eleven thousand dollars. I don’t know of any golf course in the nation that has what we have.” Kathy had an idea for the golf course art eight years ago and contacted Cam at that time. But he became ill and was not able to do it. Kathy got busy with other things, and then when the drought got so bad and more trees started to die, she decided to revive the project. Cam thinks his statue of an Indian Chief is the real showcase. Kathy says it’s her favorite, too. He did that one in two days. “The feathers in his head dress look like real feathers. It’s fine art.” A 30-ACRE ROCK OUTLINE OF TEXAS
Jim Runge of Eldorado is always doing unusual things. He practically holds the world record for the number of characters he has portrayed. Among them are Elvis, Sam Houston, Batman, Cupid and the Grim Reaper. His costumes are in a special place on the T 9 C Ranch where he lives with his wife Claryce. Jim has staged just about every type of event you can imagine, from goat races to llama kissing. He has the type of mind that is always pondering what he can do next. A few years ago he got involved with senior athletic games and has won just about every event he enters. He has a room full of trophies, ribbons, medals, certificates and plaques. What he is calling his signature project is a limestone rock outline of the state of Texas. It covers 30 acres. “I took a road map of Texas, measured it by inches, then stepped it off on the ranch,” he says. “One inch on the map equals twenty steps on the property. I’ve been working on it five years so far. It’s a very scientific project.” His pastureland is surrounded by farms. “That was the lucky part. When
the farmers cleared their land, they took the rocks and piled them all around the perimeter of our land, so all I had to do was go out there with a five-gallon bucket, put rocks in it, then haul them to the outline and pour them out in the right places.” The outline is one-third of a mile across and one-third of a mile from top to bottom. If you put the rocks in a single line, it would be a mile and a quarter long. “Now that I’ve got it complete, I’m going to start widening the rocks. Got plenty of rocks. It’s a foot wide now and I want to make it two or three feet wide, whatever it takes to make it visible from an airplane. Last week a plane flew over and took pictures of it. That made me realize what it needs, what you can or can’t see. The air traffic is picking up over the outline.” He says you can see it on GOOGLE EARTH but the picture there was taken two and a half years ago. Some of the rocks are baseball size; others weigh 200 pounds or more. They were all laid by hand. It is a lifetime project. “But it’s good exercise. You have to move around, you have to walk and move rocks and you have to pull down trees and burn them. It’s a multi-purpose project.” Inside the outline he will show highways and landmarks. “Eventually I want to get rid of all the mesquite trees and all the prickly pear and clear it out. I’ve already got a big oil tank down where Texas City is to signify that area with all the refineries. I have some windmills around Lubbock and a teepee for the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation. For Brady, I might cut a big heart for the center of Texas. I want to have something to denote every area of the state.” Jim says the T 9 C is the only place you can come and travel the whole state of Texas is less than one hour. Two dogs, Donna Quixote and Sancha Panza, handle ranch security. “Be careful they don’t lick you to death.” Tumbleweed Smith rolls around Texas looking for people with unique stories. Contact him at ts@ tumbleweedsmith.com
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11Growing Up Small Town
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■ Informed
, Continued...
Insensitive to the public’s anger at the abuse of power, the President attempts to convince Americans that the political elites have only failed in preparing and persuading the people. “Over the course of two years, we were so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that we stopped paying attention to...persuading people and giving them confidence, and bringing them together, and setting a tone, and making an argument that people can understand.” Similar is Nancy Pelosi’s spin to the Democratic Caucus as stated in Politico: “In addition, we must build the capacity for effectively communicating our message of job creation and opportunity for all, while supporting our signature achievements of health care, Wall Street reform, and Social Security and Medicare,” she wrote. “In the 2006 election…, we spoke with great clarity and unity — and we won. Now, we must further modernize not only that message but the way in which we communicate with constituents.” Oh Pelosi! Social Security and Medicare are bankrupt. The new programs will become gigantic debt burdens because of your political shenanigans that would put ordinary citizens in jail. Worse, these debts must be paid by all Americans, even the unborn. Alas, wielding the coercive power of government, Obama and Pelosi will continue to confiscate our money, and force mandates on all Americans. e.g., medical insurance must be purchased from a government selected entity. Arrogant and wrong, Obama and Pelosi claim that this coercion is good for each American. We just were not properly prepared and persuaded. To the contrary, Americans know that the government is taking our money and spending on Pelosi’s achievements, which bought the politicians votes and power, but subsequently became bankrupt. Alas, Americans know that governance in America is corrupt, which is harmful to them personally. Americans also know that burdensome taxes rob them of the use and enjoyment
of their money. Independents may not know of Ludwig von Mises or his theory on individualism: a sphere in which the individual is free to think, to choose, and to act without being restrained by the interference of the social apparatus of coercion and oppression, the State. However, they know government is messing with their personal freedom. And contrary to Obama and Pelosi, they know government’s abuse of power is the problem. America is exceptional. Benefiting from Europe’s attempts at personal freedom, especially a thousand years of intellectual theory and political strife in England, America set a revolutionary course aimed at individualism. Wrongly and regrettably, freedom in America has been unjust to races and women. Yet, the evolving concept of personal freedom best thrives in America. It is part of our heritage, our DNA, and the independent voter wants a small and restricted government which governs by the rule of law rather than the corruption and coercion of the rulers. Ludwig von Mises stated the benefits of individualism: All the spiritual and material achievements of Western civilization were the result of the operation of this idea of liberty. Gratefully, the historic pursuit for freedom is vigorous and energetic in America.
~ About Ted Abram~ Personal freedom for humanity is my pursuit. A world with free-people thinking, speaking, creating, producing, competing and exchanging ideas advances the world of commerce, science and art. Personal freedom includes personal responsibility and respect for the freedom of all people. A retired Oregon judge, I was a member of the Peace Corps in Guatemala and Liberia, West Africa. Having lived in Europe, Africa, and South America, I currently reside in Klamath Falls, Oregon and am Executive Director of the American Institute for Full Employment. Ted Abram is a content contributor at FreedomWorks.org. www.MyCounty-Line.com
Voter, Continued...
Continued from page 8 - “Informed Voter”
We need to pass a strong constitutional amendment that puts into law term limits. [crowd loves it.] There are lots of voices in Washington that say ‘no, no, no, this is too bold.’ ‘You can’t stand against the IRS, that’s too extreme.’ ‘You can’t say repeal ObamaCare, that’s really a bit much. Let’s just modify it.’ ‘You’ can’t not bankrupt the country, let’s just slow it down a little bit.’ A friend of mine suggested a bumper sticker slogan, “Republicans, we waste less.” You win elections by standing for principle, inspiring people that there is a better tomorrow. These solutions will not come from Washington, but I’ll tell you where they’ll come from, which is the American people. So let me tell every one of you who took out your cell phones before, let me ask you if you want to join in the army because we’re trying to mobilize the people across this country, text the word ‘growth,’ to the number 33733. Let me give it to you again, text the word ‘growth,’ to the number 33733, because what we’re trying to do is mobilize and energize the American people all over this country and tweet, if you’re on Twitter, tweet the hashtag, #MakeDCListen. I’m going to tell you, in conclusion, I have never
been more inspired than I am right now. Not inspired by Washington, I’m not inspired by the corruption, not by the mendacity in the White House. I’m inspired because all across this country the American people are waking-up. All across this country people are waking up and saying ‘what we are doing is not working,’ we are hurting tragically and we need to turn this country around.’ We did it in 1980 with a grassroots movement that became the Reagan Revolution, and let me tell you, the same thing is happening all over again today. I am inspired. I am honored to stand with you today because if the American people continue to rise up, to speak out, to speak the truth, we will get back to the free market principles, we will get back to the constitutional liberties that have made America the greatest country in the history of the world. We will bring back morning in America. That’s why we’re here and that is the future for the young and everybody else in this country. Thank you and God bless you. From Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) March 6th, 2014
~mwnorris
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Neighbors, State Farm
Your RV Travel To-Do List
Is the old-fashioned American road trip on your summer agenda? If it’s by way of RV, use this checklist to plan a smooth ride. Get Insured: A blend of homeowners and auto insurance is typically used to cover the vehicle’s multiple uses. Talk to your agent for more information. Plan Ahead: Flexibility is a perk of RV travel, but a rough agenda with the best places on route to eat, explore and stay will help alleviate some of the guessing. From rustic to Wi-Fi enabled, camping options run the gamut. Find the lot size and water, power and sewer hookups you need at Gocampingamerica.com and Trailerlifedirectory.com. Load Up: Outfit your RV with the comforts of home. Some necessities include: Dishes, cookware and kitchen tools Nonperishable food items Cleaning supplies First-aid kit Tool kit Batteries Flashlights RV toilet paper Linens Visit the Go RVing Coalition
for more. Maintain, Maintain, Maintain: Regular maintenance can keep your RV operating safely and reduce the risk of a breakdown. Before every trip: Check tire pressure Check brakes Check battery fluid levels Wash and inspect the exterior And according to the manufacturer’s suggested timeline: Clean air conditioner filters Drain air from air brake tanks Lube slide wipers and rails Change engine and generator oil Check air, fuel, coolant and hydraulic filters Have brakes adjusted Check window, door and roof seals Learn more about these maintenance basics at routine maintenance tips on the State Farm® Learning Center. - See more at: http:// learningcenter.statefarm.com/ auto/other-vehicles/yourrv-travel-to-do-list/#sthash. KF9J0RLB.dpuf www.MyCounty-Line.com
Echo Amphitheater, Carson National Forest, NM. Photo by Linda Norris
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13Treasure Hunters ■
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, Jerry Eckhart
By Jerry Eckhart To see more of Jerry’s treasure finds, search Facebook for “Jerry Eckhart” Poorhouses Hold Hidden Treasures
Perhaps the most fascinating place I ever hunted coins was at the old Wichita County Poor Farm. That was its actual name, and the site was marked with a faded sign denoting it as such. There were a few abandoned buildings, some still solid, but most were in various stages of decay. The site had been ignored by other coin shooters because they thought that anyone who lived on a poor farm would not have any money. I searched it as a matter of curiosity, knowing that wherever people were in the past there would be something lost. Coins were everywhere and I had it all to myself. I told no one about it for a long time, but continued to make daily visits, digging lots of silver each time I went there. Most of the coins were mercury dimes and wheat cents, but that didn’t matter, they were old and valuable. It took me a few trips to figure out the patterns, but once I did, more coins turned up. It seems the most productive places were around the edge of the old porches and along the grass grown paths. There were a few old benches remaining under the trees and these proved to be good spots. As I searched, my mind would travel back in time to a point where I could virtually see the old folks sitting around on the porches, rocking away their last minutes on earth. I wondered what their lives were like that put them in the situation where they had to go to the poor farm. I wondered where they got the coins that were lost, and just how much each minor loss meant to them. It was a peaceful time, since there were no others around. The only people I ever encountered were the city employees who kept the grass and weeds mowed down, although as time passed, their routine caretaking duties became more and more infrequent. It was as if no one really cared what happened out there. I searched this site for about a year with no competition from anyone. The only place I didn’t get to search was the old adjoining cemetery. It was still in use by the city as a potter’s field where all the indigent people were buried. The city denied me permission to search inside there. After about a year, the city decided to tear all the old buildings down and I was no longer allowed to search there. Places where homes have burned are another location that holds a fascination. Most house fires burn quickly and hot. Whatever metal is inside a house usually melts and fuses with other metals. At one such house fire, the owner told me that she was missing a jewelry box and that if I found it, I could keep what I found. As this had been several years before, I had little hope of finding anything except miscellaneous junk. This is what began to turn up. There were melted aluminum and a few modern coins in the yard. It wasn’t until I started working inside the actual spot where the house stood that things picked up. I first turned up a couple of burned brass hinges that appeared to be off a small box. After digging more aluminum junk, I got a solid hit that registered high above aluminum. That signal turned out to be a 3 inch long and one inch wide bar of melted silver. On one side of that bar were the impressions
This 1914 photograph of the Cass County poor farm shows the superintendent’s house, which also contained the inmates dining room. On the right is the paupers’ house, and the jail was located behind the barn left of this photo. Standing left of center are Nat Jones, farm superintendent, his wife and two children, George and Ruby. On the right are some of the Paupers who were living on the farm, and on the left are a few of the convicts. Photo and caption from the Frontier Times December-January 1974 Source: www.poorhousestory.com
of three rings that had not completely melted away. From the size of that bar, I assumed that all the jewelry in the box had fused together into one heavy lump. When I got home, I took scrapings from the bar, tested them with silver and gold test solutions and got positive readings for both. Although I searched for several more hours, I found no more items of any value. I have never had that bar appraised, but kept it as a keepsake.
The burn debris from a house fire will really cause a metal detector to act up. There will be a lot of static and depth will be reduced significantly. You will have to use all your skill to work over burn areas. It is encouraging however that the newer model metal detectors will do a much better job than the older ones. ~je www.MyCounty-Line.com
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14Love Lessons Learned So Far
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, Vicki Stiefer
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By Vicki Stiefer Men Talk on Cell Phones More Than Women
Let it be known from the beginning that I am the gabbiest woman on record! I can talk until wheezing and dry mouth set in. After that I can talk some more. In middle school during the crazy teenage hormone years Dad installed my own private phone line because he was tired of picking up the phone and hearing my squeaky teenage voice say, “… really? Does he like me? I like him. What was she wearing? Leg warmers are so cool!!!” I talked on that phone incessantly! Morning, noon and night that phone was glued to my ear. Dad used to say I would get cauliflower ear if I didn’t put it down every now and then. I just giggled until I found out what cauliflower ear was and then on the phone (yet again) I told my best girlfriend, “Yes, can you believe it, cauliflower ear? That is so gross! Gag me with a spoon. Dad is so un-cool!” My love affair with the phone continued throughout high school and into college. The conversations never changed much, just different catch phrases like, “That’s a pretty dress-NOT!” I have never grown out of “That sucks” or “That is so cool!” I worked for the college radio station back in the day that played jazz and “Hey Cool Cat” or “What’s up Daddy-O” was forever burned into my brain. The microphone became an extension of the phone. I played jazz tunes and carried on a conversation through the microphone. I educated listeners about jazz music and jazz history, I played requests and gabbed until I was blue in the face. I took a swig of water and started talking again. I was convinced and at the same time just fine with women talking on phones until Jesus comes back! Until I saw an article in USA Today by Byron Acohido that said Men are gabbier on their cell phones than women. What?!? Back the truck up for a second! I did a double take and then had my husband look it over. He wasn’t surprised. He shrugged and then texted his buddy about a golf game they have planned. After the text his phone rang and I thought maybe, just maybe Bryon Acohido might be onto something. According to the article in USA Today, men order more, make more reservations and talk faster than women do. The article says:
and the average female spoke 227 words per call at a rate of 24 words per minute. The data also showed that men tend to make more calls at the beginning of the day, whereas women prefer to make more calls after lunch.”
talking and men handle more business. Either way I laugh and gladly step out of the top spot for most gabbiest person on their cell phone. Women are labeled crazy drivers, super talkative, psychowait, that’s two crazy references. We’re not crazy though (or physco) and yes we’re different. I really love telling young people to embrace and celebrate the fact that men and women are different. Their eyes often pop right out of their head. For whatever reason they are not taught to celebrate the difference and that makes me sad for them. I love being a woman. I love all of the makeup, the spa visits, the sports, the clothes, the choices I can make for my life. I don’t want to give that up, I want to enjoy my life and not struggle to be something I am not in the long run. ~vs
I decided to take my own very un-scientific poll amongst friends and family and 9 out of 10 women agreed that men talk on their cell phones more and only 2 out 10 men agreed. Who’s in denial here? I just recently visited Memphis, Tennessee to see Graceland and Elvis had a phone in every room including the bathroom. He had a phone in his limo and a phone on his plane that could call anywhere in the world. Was he gabbier than Priscilla, maybe? Does my husband stay on his phone? Most of the time he is not talking but he does stay glued to sports updates and the latest happenings from his For more on the Byron Acohido article news reel. You would think he had you can click: http://www.usatoday.com/ never watched the news at 10P in story/tech/2013/02/14/men-talk-morethan-women-on-cell-phone/1919549/ his life! So maybe women do more gossiping, laughing, general www.MyCounty-Line.com
“Marchex aggregated data points from more than 200,000 phone calls placed to U.S. Business -- the majority of which came from mobile phones -- and found that men speak 13% longer on the phone and that they’re more talkative. On average, male callers stayd on the phone for 7 minutes, 23 seconds and women for just 6 minutes, 30 seconds. The study also found that men spoke more and faster than women did. The average male callers spoke 236 words per call at 32 words per minute
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15Huddle Up! ■
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www.MyCounty-Line.com ~ APRIL 2014 v7.78 ~ www.Facebook.com/mycountyline , Matt Swinney
By Matt Swinney Beer & BBQ
As we head into the spring and summer months, we think of baseball, for sure, but in this month’s article, I thought I would dive into the sport of golf. A fantastic book that should be on the top of your golf reading list is: When Golf Was Fun: Tales from the Late, Great Beer & BBQ Circuit written by Pat Wheeler. Pat currently writes for DFW and Houston Links Magazine focusing on the history of the game of golf and the youth movement of the game. I recently had a chance to sit down with Pat to discuss this book. I started off by asking him what made him write this book: PW: Well, it’s just a big part of me. When I was growing up in Tyler, my older brother was a great football player and I was the middle child, I had a younger brother, and my dad loved golf and every August, the first weekend in August, was something to look forward to. That was the Briarwood Invitational at the Briarwood Country Club in Tyler. And, as a eight or nine year-old boy, I was go out there and I would see the guys who were the best amateur golfers in Texas, which means they’re as good as anybody in the country playing golf, and what was behind it was all the beer and barbecue and the betting, which I learned about later as I got older, but it was the competition as much as anything that drove these events. It’s like the barnstorming days of baseball, which is before my time. While I don’t know that much about the barnstorming day of baseball, I do know about the beer and barbecue circuits in the 60s and 70s and they faded out in the 80s. MS: Talk about some of the courses you mention in this book. I see the Briarwood Country Club in Tyler is here. What are some of the other courses in this book? PW: Well, I’m sure glad you brought that up because one of the courses I write extensively in the book is the Center Country Club. Center is the heart of poultry country. It’s about 25 miles east of Nacogdoches. You’re getting close to the Louisiana border. A neat little ninehole course, but they love to have a golf tournament. And, they had the biggest Calcutta of all. Now, the Calcutta is where they auction off the players and all the money is pooled and then it’s split up depending on how they finish in the end, and one of my best stories is about Ben Crenshaw. He had already won all these big amateur tournaments. He had been the low amateur in the Masters, but he had never played at Center. He’d always to play at Center because all his buddies were there. So, what would bring a guy like him to this little nine-hole course? Well, it’s the fun, the competition, and he sold for so much meaning that the total Calcutta was $50,000, he sold for $15,000. If he didn’t win the tournament, the person who bought him would win that money, but he comes and he wins. MS: Well, there are a lot of golfers that made these Beer and Barbecue circuits. One of those golfers is from Abilene, Charles Coody. Give us an interesting anecdote on Charles Coody.
PW: Well, Charles Coody is a very interesting person. Charles is probably in his early 70s right now. He won the Masters. He really won before all the big money endorsements. But, he’s just a fine person, and he owns the Diamond Back Golf Club in Abilene. We call it a little bit of Augusta in Abilene. He’s got some great stories. He was 13 years old and his uncle took him to the Colonial in Fort Worth back in the late 50s, and a guy had a ball stuck in a rut behind the green and they wouldn’t give him a drop. The guy turns his back to the hole, hits down on the ball with a wedge to get it out of the rut. The ball rolls up the hill and then down the hill and it rolls to within a foot to the hole. This is how Charles got hooked in the sport of golf, and most guys start real early just hitting the ball and watching it go 200 yards. That’s the hook on golf. MS: What was one of most challenging thing about writing this book? PW: I never thought I could finish writing the book. I knew I would be leaving out a lot. MS: Finally, where can people pick up the book When Golf Was Fun? PW: I’m glad you asked that. The best way would be to go to the website, www. whengolfwasfun.com. You can go to the website and call me if you have questions or if you would like for me to come to a book signing. You can also go to www.amazon.com and order your copy of When Golf Was Fun: Tales from the Late, Great Beer & BBQ
Circuit. Order your copy today. I found Pat Wheeler to be very knowledgeable about Golf and well, life in general! During the interview he kept a big smile on his face so it’s clear to me he has a great dentist but more than that he had a very good time writing this book. Until next month, Happy Reading!!! ~ms www.MyCounty-Line.com
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Independent Reps Do you enjoy talking to people and meeting new people??? There are thousands of small businesses in our area that would benefit from getting to know The County Line. And we’re looking for people like you to help spread the word and introduce The County Line to them and their customers! We don’t look for “one-time” ad sales...we want to partner with business owners just like us! The last thing they need is more hassles and they don’t need advertising that never gets seen or heard from! They need someone who will listen, someone who has the talent and skills to bring their ideas to life, and a devoted audience that is eager to get its hands on every issue!
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18The County Line
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Visit www.MyCounty-Line.com Published by Mike W. Norris dba Wolverine Design ● PO Box 1156 ● Eastland, Texas 76448 ● http://www.mycounty-line.com
20This Week In Texas History
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, by Bartee Haile
By Bartee Haile
Texas Ranger and colorful frontier character. Lewis organized a roundAn Irish immigrant, who escaped a tenement hell to create an empire the-clock defense and did such an as big as Texas, took his last breath on Apr. 14, 1885. impressive job that desperadoes well as Comanches gave the The Kings were destitute refugees from the Emerald Isle trapped in as fortified spread a wide berth. the dead-end poverty of the New York slums. Eleven year old Richard was apprenticed to a jeweler in 1835, but the moment his keeper turned In 1854 the pair bought the first his back the headstrong boy ran away. tract on Santa Gertrudis Creek, of the giant King The youngster roamed the Atlantic seaboard before finally settling in cornerstone Ranch. But next year the Florida, where he grew up on the rivers. Displaying a natural talent for captain lost his the right-hand man. the helm, he became a skilled steamboat pilot while still in his teens. Riverboat Captain Builds Ranch as Big as Texas
At 19 King met a riverboat captain named Mifflin Kennedy, a quiet Quaker seven years his senior who took his religion very seriously. King was the opposite -- a hard-drinking veteran of the docks with a quick temper and fists to match. Yet, despite their differences, the friendship would last nearly half a century. Two years later from the southern tip of the brand-new state of Texas, Kenedy sent word of the unlimited opportunities. An economic boom of epic proportions was in full swing on both sides of the border following the Mexican-American War. That was all King needed to hear, and he dropped what he was doing to join his pal at Boca Del Rio on the Gulf Coast not far from Brownsville. For three years, they hauled freight up and down the Rio Grande before forming M. Kenedy & Co. with money put up by Charles Stillman, one of the wealthiest men in Texas. With the two captains in charge of the day-to-day operation, the thriving enterprise soon had a monopoly on everything that moved on the river. When Richard King rode the 165 dusty miles from Brownsville to Corpus Christi in 1852, he was already a prosperous businessman with a rock-solid future. The merchant prince knew absolutely nothing about cattle or ranching, but he recognized a pot at the end of the rainbow when he saw it. South Texas in the mid-nineteenth century was a virtually vacant wasteland the Mexicans called El Deseirto de los Muertos, the Desert of the Dead. Outlaws and Indians had ruled the desolate domain for decades discouraging permanent settlement by all but the most determined homesteaders and small ranchers. Landowners were anxious to sell, and titles were dirt cheap. King made his initial purchase in the summer of 1853 buying 15,500 acres for less than two cents apiece. King’s original partner in his ranching venture was Legs Lewis, a
Shortly after Lewis announced his congressional candidacy, a Corpus Christi doctor threatened to knock the wheels off his political bandwagon. The physician accused the notorious womanizer of stealing his wife and claimed to have letters in the cattleman’s own handwriting to substantiate the charge. When Legs called upon the unhappy husband to retrieve the incriminating love notes, he was met at the door by a fatal shotgun blast.
obtained a presidential pardon with surprising ease. Turning his interest in the steamship company into a passive but still highly lucrative investment, he devoted his full attention to expanding the Santa Gertrudis. Neither King nor Kenedy, who also had branched out into ranching, believed in the open range. When Kenedy fenced 131,000 acres of his Laureles Ranch in 1868, it was the largest enclosed area west of the Mississippi. King followed his example, and each strung the controversial barbed wire after its introduction in 1874.
In the 1870’s, Richard King took center stage as the biggest cattle raiser in the country. He ultimately owned 614,000 acres, a stupendous 1,400 square miles. At the time of his passing 129 years ago, the King Ranch boasted 40,000 head of cattle, 7,000 horses and 12,000 sheep. Not bad for a little Irish While stationed at Brownsville ragamuffin from the tenements of in the late 1850’s, Lt. Robert E. New York. Lee and Capt. King became close friends. The rancher never forgot On his deathbed at the Menger the sage advice of the future Hotel in San Antonio, the old commander of the Confederacy riverboat captain left this final to “buy land and never sell,” and directive for his lawyer: “Not as a result his holdings steadily to let a foot of dear old Santa swelled. Gertrudis get away.” How happy King would be to know that his In good times and bad, King namesake spread is even bigger always came out on top. During now than the day he died. the Civil War, M. Kenedy and Co. made a huge fortune in contraband ~bh cotton. King was not opposed to Bartee Haile welcomes your comments, fighting for his staunchly southern questions and suggestions at P.O. Box beliefs and for a mysterious 18 152, Friendswood, TX 77549 or haile@ and invites you to visit his new months allegedly fought with a pdq.net web site at barteehaile.com. guerrilla band behind Union lines. After the defeat of Dixie, King
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