In January & Inside
Two federal holidays on Jan. 20
Jan. 20 will be a day when two federal holidays coincide: Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Inauguration Day.
Inauguration Day rolls around every four years and is a federal holiday. A newly elected president is sworn in on Jan. 20 or Jan. 21 if the 20th falls on a Sunday.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is also a federal holiday, which is celebrated on the third Monday of January.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day became a federal holiday in 1983, and was first observed on Jan. 20, 1986. It’s observed on the third Monday in January, which is around King’s actual birthday on Jan. 15.
How often do the two holidays happen on the same day - more often than you may think.
Since MLK Day became a federal holiday,
there have been nine presidential inaugurations. Eight of the occasions have been on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, according to HistoryinPieces.
• George Bush: Jan. 20, 1989
• William J. Clinton: Jan. 20, 1993, Jan. 20, 1997
• George W. Bush: Jan. 20, 2001, Jan. 20, 2005
• Barack Obama: Jan. 20, 2009, Jan. 21, 2013
• Donald J. Trump: Jan. 20, 2017
• Joe Biden: Jan. 20, 2021
The presidential oath is: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” After taking the oath, the president gives an inaugural address.
U.S. Presidents still living & their ages
ORDER NAME IN OFFICE CURRENT AGE
42nd ......William J. Clinton...... 1993-2001 ..........78
43rd George W. Bush 2001-2009 78
44th Barack Obama 2009-2017 63
45th ......Donald J. Trump ........ 2017-2021 ..........78
46th ......Joseph R. Biden, Jr. ... 2021-2025 ..........82
The Presidents of the United States of America
ORDER NAME YEARS IN OFFICE
1st George Washington 1789-1797 2nd John Adams 1797-1801 3rd Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809
4th James Madison 1809-1817
5th ...... James Monroe ................................... 1817-1825
6th ...... John Quincy Adams .......................... 1825-1829 7th ...... Andrew Jackson ................................ 1829-1837 8th ...... Martin Van Buren ............................. 1837-1841 9th ...... William Henry Harrison .............................1841 10th ...... John Tyler.......................................... 1841-1845 11th ...... James Polk ........................................ 1845-1849 12th ...... Zachary Taylor ................................. 1849-1850 13th ...... Millard Fillmore................................ 1850-1853 14th ..... Franklin Pierce .................................. 1853-1857 15th ...... James Buchanan ............................... 1857-1861 16th Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865 17th Andrew Johnson 1865-1869 18th Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1877 19th Rutherford B. Hayes 1877-1881 20th James A. Garfield 1881
Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885 22nd ...... Grover Cleveland .............................. 1885-1889 23rd ...... Benjamin Harrison ............................ 1889-1893 24th ...... Grover Cleveland .............................. 1893-1897
25th ...... William McKinley ............................ 1897-1901
26th ...... Theodore Roosevelt .......................... 1901-1909
27th ...... William Howard Taft ........................ 1909-1913
28th ...... Woodrow Wilson .............................. 1913-1921
29th ...... Warren G. Harding............................ 1921-1923
30th ...... Calvin Coolidge ................................ 1923-1929
31st ...... Herbert Hoover ................................. 1929-1933
32nd Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945
33rd Harry S. Truman 1945-1953
34th Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961
35th John F. Kennedy 1961-1963
36th Lyndon B. Johnson 1963-1969
37th Richard M. Nixon 1969-1974
38th ..... Gerald R. Ford .................................. 1974-1977
39th ...... Jimmy Carter .................................... 1977-1981
40th ...... Ronald Reagan .................................. 1981-1989
41st ..... George Bush .................................... 1989-1993
42nd ...... William J. Clinton ............................ 1993-2001
43rd ...... George W. Bush ................................ 2001-2009
44th ...... Barack Obama .................................. 2009-2017
45th ...... Donald J. Trump ............................... 2017-2021
46th ...... Joseph R. Biden, Jr............................ 2021-2025
Lifestyles & diamonds in the dust
Step out and stay fit in the new year with Brenda Brints of Covenant Lifestyles Center.
Also hear the story of Nancy Kay Grace of Azle, Texas, as she shares “Diamonds in the Dust.”
The Lubbock Christian Women meeting will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Lubbock Country Club, 3400 Mesa Rd.
A buffet lunch will be served, along with the program, and a chance to win door prizes.
Cost is $23. RSVP to Sharen at 806-392-0264 or LubbockCWC@gmail.com.
RSVP deadline is Jan. 10. Honor reservations, give to a friend, or cancel by Jan.10.
Roundtable set for Jan. 11
The Roundtable will meet from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan 11.
The program will be Dr. Rich Rice, professor and director of Technical Communication & Rhetoric in the English department at Texas Tech.
The meeting will be at Carillon in the Pointe Plaza building, in the Cimarron Room. Cost is $18.
RSVP to Marie Evans at 806-281-3181 or email MEvans1398@aol.com.
Lubbock historical music
New Neighbors Club of Lubbock will hold its first meeting of the New Year at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 10.
The meeting, which includes a luncheon, will be at the Lubbock Women’s Club, 2020 Broadway. Ralph DeWitt, owner of Ralph’s Records, will speak on Lubbock historical music.
Cost is $20, and reservations may be made by emailing andreah7@ gmail.com.
Receptionist at the dentist will look you straight in the eye and ask if you are available 5 months and 13 days from now at 2 p.m.
Getting old is like climbing a mountain; you get a little out of breath, but the view is much better. – Ingrid Bergman
January is here and we celebrate the closing of one door and the beginnings of another. This is a month we can look back and plan for the future. As we continue to plot our course, we can remember important people, places and things.
• Jan. 1 is New Year’s Day. Maybe you stayed up late the night before, but do not forget the tradition of eating black-eyed peas for good luck.
• Jan. 6 is Epiphany. According to the New Testament’s Gospels, the three wise men brought gifts to the infant Jesus. The Epiphany Tart or a King Cake holds a lucky bean that is hailed to bring good luck.
• Jan. 17 is Benjamin Franklin’s
birthday. He was not-only a worldrenowned stateman, inventor and scientist, he was also fascinated by agriculture. The Farmer’s Almanac consider him the father of almanacs.
• Jan. 20 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day (observed), and this year is also Inauguration Day. For many (including RSVP), it is a day of service. If able, find a place to assist. It can be a church, social event, or non-profit to give back.
Just for fun days
• Jan. 3 is Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day…YUM!
• Jan. 14 is National Dress Up
Your Pet Day…sit Fido…sit!
• Jan. 29 is National Puzzle Day.
#LetsDoLunch
Garrison Institute on Aging
Umm, do I pick 12 pieces or 1,000+?
And do not forget Jan. 4, 2025. The Earth reaches perihelion (the point in the planet’s orbit where it is closest to the Sun. Earth will be 91,405,993 miles from the SUN. Do not forget the sunscreen.
TTUHSC-GIA events
Care Partner Academy will meet Jan. 8. Barbara Singer will present “Communicating Effectively For Persons with Alzheimer’s or other Dementias.” The session begins at noon and will go until 1 p.m. The event is available on ZOOM (see ad for link) and also recorded for later viewing.
It is held at SW Campus, 6630 S. Quaker Ave, Suite E. Light refreshments are served. Contact 806-7437821 for additional information.
Healthy Aging Lecture Series will resume Jan. 22. Dr. Jonathan Singer, (Asst. Professor at TTU Department of Psychological Sciences) will speak about projects he has with the Memory Clinic, Caregiver Support and Respite Care.
The event is held at Carillon Senior Living, Windsong Building at 4002 16th St. in Lubbock from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
only. You can join or renew at the sale. There are several levels to join. A family or individual can join for on $10. annually. The location is the Mahon Library, 1306 9th St. If you have never attended, you will not be disappointed. This is a great place to allow the kiddos to pick out books for themselves.
• The First Friday Art Trail will be from 6 to 9 p.m., Jan. 3. This is a free self-guided art tour through the Lubbock Cultural District. The exhibits are ever-changing and feature art, music and fun! You can ride a trolley to the various locations. This is really a fun way to start your weekend.
• The Cactus Theater is located at 1812 Buddy Holly Ave., and offers a variety of musical productions. If you have never been or it has been a while, take the opportunity to see some great performances. January is full of tributes (Johnny Cash) and local and national artists. The Singing Plainsmen will celebrate the 80th anniversary on Jan. 18. This is a family-friendly environment and enjoyable for all.
• The Buddy Holly Hall offers a wide variety of performances. For January, these include the musical Mean Girls, 50th Anniversary of Air Supply, comedian Steve Trevion, The Panhandlers and more.
Parking is available next to the building, and light refreshments will be served. If you have questions, contact the department for details at 806-743-7821.
Community events in Lubbock in January
• The Friends of the Library will host their monthly book sale on Jan. 24 and 25.
Friday sale is open for members
RSVP updates
Volunteers with RSVP contributed thousands of items for the community. Items were distributed across the area including the VA Clinic, UMC Cancer Center, and NICU unit, Hope Lodge, Ronald McDonald
No-Bake Coconut Cream Balls
Ingredients
- 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
- 3 cups shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
For Coating: - 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut Directions
1. Prepare the Mixture: In a large mixing bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, 3 cups of shredded coconut, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. Stir everything together until well-combined. The mixture should be sticky but firm enough to roll into balls.
2. Chill the Mixture: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and refrigerate for about 1 hour, or until the mixture firms up and is easier to handle.
3. Shape the Balls: Once chilled, scoop out tablespoonsized portions of the mixture and roll them into small balls using your hands. Roll each ball in the extra shredded coconut (1 cup) until fully coated.
4. Serve: Arrange the coconut cream balls on a festive platter.
5. Storage: Store the coconut balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Servings: 24 coconut balls
Fajitas at the Caboose
Dear Folks, Ever so often I crave “South of the Border” cuisine. This month’s column features fajitas from 50th St. Caboose. What a treat!
First was a generous serving of delicious flame grilled steak strips and veggies. Next the condiments featured the absolute best queso I’ve ever tasted, and the best crispy corn chips ever.
Yes, there was also a large serving of refined beans, topped with melted cheese.
Can you believe it!? There was so much food, we had enough for another meal.
This restaurant is locally owned — no franchise is involved. The lunch and dinner menus have extensive selections.
After getting the inside info from one of the owners, Mr. Bradly, he informed me the cuisine consists of “Good Ol’ West Texas” favorites. He also mentioned a Friday favorite of grilled catfish.
From my own experience, catfish is not too easy to find on Lubbock menus.
My next order — you guessed it — grilled catfish. 5027 50th Street, 806796-2240 50thstreetcaboose. com
Happy New Year, Cathy
Cartels turn to social media to lure Americans into human smuggling as Texas enforces stricter laws
By Alejandro Serrano
The Texas Tribune
When Justin Persinger met the woman at a grocery store, he was broke and sleeping on a friend’s couch in San Antonio. After some flirting, she asked if he would be interested in making a little extra money by giving some people a ride down by the border in Eagle Pass, Persinger’s lawyers said.
The woman told Persinger he’d earn about $1,000, and
American citizens and smuggling arrests ballooned by about 1,150% after the state began its border crackdown.
The people they’re arresting are often lured into becoming human smugglers by vague posts seeking drivers for thousands of dollars on social media apps such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, according to eight defense attorneys, three prosecutors, and four people arrested for smuggling.
Thousands of people have been arrested under Texas’ human smuggling law. Now they face at least a decade in prison under sentencing guidelines that took effect this year.
he agreed, hoping it would help his chances of scoring a date with her. And the cash wouldn’t hurt.
But when Persinger made the 2½-hour drive to the border, a state trooper was hiding out nearby. He was arrested.
Persinger is among thousands of people who have been charged with human smuggling since Texas began an all-out effort called Operation Lone Star to control its border with Mexico nearly four years ago. While elected officials say they are targeting the Mexican cartels who run smuggling and drug trafficking empires, most of those charged in Texas are
destination and when the migrants get into the vehicle.
“We have Uber, we have Lyft, we have a lot of these different services where normal everyday citizens are drivers,” said Mary Pietrazek, a San Antonio defense attorney who’s represented nearly 500 people arrested under the state’s human smuggling law.
“It’s not outside the realm of possibility for somebody to want a driver.”
is really trying to make so many aspects of our lives [criminal],” said Priscilla Olivarez, of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, which along with other organizations published a paper claiming that the state smuggling law is “fueling a mass incarceration crisis.”
the border under Operation Lone Star shows that about half of the people arrested by troopers for smuggling each of the last three years were younger than 27.
Teens younger than 18 accounted for roughly 6% of arrests each year.
People who answer such an ad get instructions from an anonymous person who does not tell the prospective driver they’ll be committing a crime through the messaging app WhatsApp, the lawyers and convicted smugglers said.
They’re told to drive to specific spots on the Texas side of the U.S.-Mexico border, pick up a group of strangers and drive them to a drop-off point in large Texas cities such as Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. They’re instructed to send the unknown person messages along the way to confirm key milestones in the journey like arriving at the initial
Texas’ human smuggling law has been in the books for a quarter century, but over the last decade the state Legislature has repeatedly broadened it and made the punishment more extreme. People convicted under federal human smuggling law face on average about 15 months in prison. Last year, state lawmakers imposed a mandatory 10-year minimum sentence on anyone convicted under the Texas law.
The law has raised alarm among attorneys, criminal justice reformers and immigrants’ rights advocates who say it has overwhelmed local justice systems, caught up people who are far from hardened criminals and morphed into an unconstitutionally vague statute that gives state police a fishing license to look for undocumented migrants.
“This state-led immigration enforcement system
Texas law enforcement made 1,400 human smuggling arrests the year before Gov. Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in early 2021. By 2022, the number had exploded to 17,500.
A Tribune review of arrests made by the Texas Department of Public Safety whose troopers have flooded
By
(Continued from Page 4) House, several hospices, and the Stocking Project as well as so many others.
If you have material (including double knit and fleece), yarn or other items that might be useful to our organization, contact us at 806-743-7787. If we cannot utilize these resources, we can find a home for them. We thank you for your generosity.
January funnies…
What do you say on Jan. 1?
• Last year just seemed like yesterday.
In interviews, lawyers said some smugglers were a bit skeptical of the task they were asked to complete, but did not fully understand that they were being asked to illegally smuggle people since they wouldn’t be transporting anyone across the border. Persinger was 33 when he stopped in Texas in the (See Lawmakers, Page 19)
What do you have in December that you do not have in any other month?
• The letter D. What happened to the person who stole a calendar on New Year’s Day?
• They got 12 months. What New Year’s resolution should a basketball player never make?
• To travel more!
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Garrison Institute on Aging TEXAS TECH HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER
Dr. Adam Hawley to perform Feb. 20
Guitarist Dr. Adam Hawley of Los Angeles has had a multifaceted career.
He and his band will be featured at the Winter Jazz Concert at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20 at The Cactus Theater, 1812 Buddy Holly Ave.
Tickets range from $45 to $55. Call 806-535-2475 or 806-762-3233 for tickets.
He was a sideman for JLO, Backstreet Boys, Natalie Cole, Brian McKnight. In TV he was on American Idol, and the Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel.
He is on the faculty at Saddleback College. He holds a doctorate in musical arts from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
He is a contemporary jazz solo artist and producer (nine #1 hits US Radio).
Hawley came on to the scene as an innovative artist, composer and band leader. He originally signed to Maurice White’s (founder of Earth, Wind, & Fire) label Kalimba Music.
Hawley’s first two albums “Double Vision” and “Just the Beginning” spawned six #1 hits, an unprecedented feat for a new artist.
He followed that up with “Escape” which included the 2020 Billboard Song Of The Year “To The Top.” Now totaling 9 #1’s, Hawley sets out with this fourth album “Risin’ Up” which features Steve Cole, Vincent Ingala, Julian Vaughn, Riley Richard & Kat Hawley anchored by the first single “Risin’ Up”
In addition to touring as a leader, he has also played for Jennifer Lopez, Natalie Cole, Lalah Hathaway, The Manhattan Transfer, Gerald Albright, and recently appeared on American Idol in the house band.
No, I can’t do Snapchat or Tiktok, but I can write in cursive, do math without a calculator, and tell time on a clock with hands.
Onion rings are vegetable donuts.
I can’t even imagine the self control required to work at a bubble wrap factory.
A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.
Two women in a bus were fighting over the last available seat. The conductor had already tried unsuccessfully to intervene when the bus driver shouted to the conductor, “Let the ugly one take the seat.” Both women stood for the rest of the journey.
Oh, Mandy
‘You came and you gave without taking’
Imagine that you are a multi-talented singer-pianist who just isn’t “happening” in the music-recording world.
You might ask yourself, “What would it take to soar to the heights of this world, ride high on the hit charts, and sell out concerts night after night? I’ve got both the pipes and the looks for success. Over the years I’ve learned the ins and outs of the record business. I’ve even managed to sign with a small label and release an LP, even though it bombed.”
Such is a conversation 31-year-old Barry Manilow could have had with himself as the year 1974 began to wind down.
Eventually he would grab the elusive brass ring, but he nearly blew his chance when he did.
He met the right person—record-business veteran Clive Davis, who would soon change the life of the frustrated Brooklynite.
After being a Columbia Records executive, Davis was about to take over Bell Records — Manilow’s recording home—and rename it Arista Records.
To see what Barry had to offer, Clive went to evaluate him when Manilow opened a show for Dionne Warwick.
“I was really taken by his performance,” the business-
man enthused later in his autobiography.
“He was a terrific singer, and his manner was upbeat, funny and self-deprecating. The audience loved him.”
Davis believed that none of Manilow’s maiden LP tracks had shown the potential to be a hit single (at the time a necessity for most
But when Davis showed Manilow the hauntingly beautiful ballad of lost love and regret, Barry balked, thinking “Brandy” would at best be an album-track “filler” and that English’s tune would be of no help to him as a career-launcher.
Clive disagreed and pushed hard for a first-class
Blast To The Past!
By Randal C. Hill
new artists seeking success).
To the super-savvy Clive, there was nothing more important than to correctly match the just-right singer with the just-right material and the just-right production.
Manilow knew that Davis had primarily worked with rock artists, but Barry had no real interest in rock ‘n’ roll.
Clive thus set about casting for something suitable— no, perfect—for his talented protege.
Davis had nurtured the early careers of several recording luminaries and knew how to connect good artists with good songs.
Sifting through hundreds of discs, Clive was drawn to an obscure tune called “Brandy,” a mid-chart 1971 British hit by American expatriate Scott English.
production and promotion. Eventually, Manilow decided not to argue with his new boss (good idea!) and reluctantly agreed to record the song.
Davis had the disc’s title tweaked to avoid confusion with the 1972 Looking Glass hit “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).”
To Barry’s amazement, “Mandy”—as it was now known—shot to the top of the Billboard chart, and Barry Manilow was instantly catapulted into the pantheon of recording superstars.
You can see and hear the original British hit of “Brandy.” Go to Google, key in YouTube, add “Brandy Scott English,” then select the concert video clip. You’ll find that it’s 1971 UK “cool” at its very best!
Pick up a print edition at any of our 100+ locations throughout Lubbock or go online to www.wordpub.com click on “Seniors” click on “Golden Gazette” choose a ‘pdf version’ or a ‘ ip-the-page’ version
To subscribe to the Golden Gazette, call 806-744-2220. $30 for the year; $60 for two years. Or mail a check to:
Word Publications, P.O. Box 723, Tahoka, Texas 79373
Please be sure to include the address to mail the subscription to.
Learn the international hand signal for ‘Help Me’
The Signal for Help (or the Violence at Home Signal for Help) is a single-handed gesture that can be used by an individual to alert others that they feel threatened and need help.
The “Signal for Help” is a tool created by the Canadian Women’s Foundation.
It’s a simple one-handed gesture someone can use, without leaving a digital trace, to communicate they need someone to safely check in and support them.
If you see the
Signal for Help:
1. Reach out to the person safely.
2. Be supportive: acknowledge their experience, listen, and let them tell you
what they need.
3. Refer them to services or offer resources, as needed.
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 911 or your local emergency services (police, fire, ambulance).
Knowing this discreetbut-distinct hand signal could save a life.
One of the scariest things about being trapped in a situation with a dangerous person is how many people don’t notice. Abusers, kidnappers, traffickers, and the like often monitor and control a person so tightly that asking for help seems impossible. There are countless stories of people managing to slip someone a note saying they need help or signaling in some other way that they’re in an unsafe situation.
Spotting fakes
• Check the URL of the story: abcnews.com is a legitimate news source; abcnews.com.co is not. Anything that ends with something other than .com, .org, or .gov is likely to be a spoof.
• If someone important is quoted, Google the quote. It can be tracked back to an event or a statement if it is legit.
• Reverse search the questionable image on Google. Right click the image and copy the URL. Go to images.google.com and paste the URL to find out where it came from.
Check with these tools:
Politics – Factcheck.org and Politifact.com
General scams – Snopes.com
Email and FB hoaxes – Truthorfiction.com & Hoaxslayer.com
Hold palm outward, then tuck thumb, then trap thumb by bringing fingers down.
the reach of partners such as the Women’s Funding Network, the world’s largest philanthropic network for girls and women.
The signal only works if people recognize it and know what it means.
Since it only requires one hand, it’s more convenient than the American Sign Language sign for “help,” which requires two hands.
It’s simple, subtle, and swift enough to be easy to use in lots of different circumstances but also distinct enough that those who know it will recognize it instantly. It’s even something we can teach young children.
The Signal for Help campaign has gained traction around the world thanks to
Domestic violence is a great concern and human trafficking is a billion-dollar
TXU Energy donates $10,000 to provide gifts
TXU Energy and Lubbock Meals on Wheels Lubbock teamed up to spread winter warmth to Lubbock neighbors.
A $10,000 donation from TXU Energy provided a lap blanket, toiletry items, gloves, socks, and some items from wish lists to more than 800 Lubbock Meals on Wheels clients through the Senior Secret Santa program.
The donation is part of TXU Energy’s Winter Warmth program which is the latest in the company’s long history of assisting neighbors in need.
When Elijah battled depression, God didn’t send an angel to preach to him, tell him he needed to pray more, or condemn him for feeling that way. He sent an angel to comfor him while he rested. Some people just need to comforted.
You don’t become cooler with age, but you do care progressively less about being cool, which is the only true way of being cool. This is called the Geezer’s Paradox.
global industry, and victims are sometimes being transported in broad daylight. Learning and sharing this hand sign far and wide will help spread awareness, enable more victims of violence to ask for help in a safe way, and hopefully even save lives.
Lubbock,Texas 806-744-2220
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‘Drive like a Texan’ encourages safe behavior while driving.
Kind. Courteous. Safe. Next time you get behind the wheel, remember that a little kindness and courtesy go a long way to make the roads safer for everyone.
People in Texas take pride in who they are. From holding the door open for a stranger to lending a helping hand to a neighbor, being a Texan is a way of life.
But too many times drivers leave that Lone Star spirit behind when they get on the road, which can often result in preventable crashes.
To help instill that Texas spirit on the road, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is getting back to the basics by launching a safety initiative called Drive like a Texan.
This fresh perspective exemplifies the pride, camaraderie and responsibility of being a Texan. By reminding drivers to practice those values every day, Texas roads can be safer for everyone.
“We want a fresh, heartfelt approach to how we talk about road safety. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve lived here, or where you’re from. All that really matters is that you embrace those values that represent the
best of Texas,” said TxDOT Deputy Executive Director Brandye Hendrickson.
“The message is simple: Take pride in how we treat each other on and off the road.”
Although the number of people who died in crashes went down in 2023 compared to 2022, an average of 12 people die on Texas roadways every day.
It will take everyone’s help, and Drive like a Texan introduces a new unifying message that can save lives
when put into practice. It reminds Texans of who we are, how we treat each other, and the common values we share.
Drive like a Texan messages will appear across television, social media, website and billboards throughout Texas.
Whether it’s letting someone merge with a friendly wave, slowing down in busy areas or simply practicing patience, this campaign encourages everyone to embody the true Texan spirit.
Bridges part of maintenance project
A $922,390 maintenance project to replace bridge joints and make deck and concrete repairs to various bridges in Garza, Hale and Lubbock counties began in December on the 42nd Street bridge at I-27 in Lubbock.
The bridges will be closed to all traffic to give work crews the space needed to stage equipment and safely make the repairs. Seven area bridges are included in the project:
In Garza County - FM 669, south of Post
In Hale County - SH 194 at Running Water Draw; I-27 at Callahan Draw; I-27 frontage road turnaround in Hale Center
In Lubbock County - 42nd Street at I-27; 50th Street at I-27; Erskine Street at I-27
The project is scheduled to wrap-up in summer 2025.
They say it’s better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody?
I hate it when I am trying to eat a salad, and it accidently falls into the trash, and then I have to eat pizza instead.
Sure, you can get your wife jewelry or an expensive purse or perfume for Christmas. But she will never forget the Christmas you got her a mop. NEVER.
H-E-B’s Feast of Sharing celebration
H-E-B, in partnership with Lubbock Meals on Wheels, celebrated the holiday season in Lubbock by delivering more than 1,000 meals to homebound residents on Dec. 24 as part of its annual HE-B Feast of Sharing celebration.
Launched in 1989, H-E-B’s Feast of Sharing regularly serves more than 340,000 meals annually in 34 cities.
Over the more than three decades H-E-B has held the celebration, more than 375,000 volunteers have helped serve more than four million meals.
This initiative is a part of H-E-B’s Hunger Relief Program, which works year-round to prevent hunger in the more than 300 communities H-E-B serves.
Use a life transition to create a healthier home
Are you planning for a life transition this year? Whether it may be for yourself, a parent, or a loved one, if downsizing or perhaps even a full move to a new community is on the horizon, now is the time to improve your indoor living conditions to benefit your health.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Americans spend approximately 90% of their time indoors.
This means the things in homes and the ways time is spent inside them can have a dramatic impact on health.
Part of the equation is subtraction --determining what to get rid of during a home cleanout.
improve breathing, boost your mood, and even improve sleeping habits.
Benefit from artificial landscapes
When was the last time you freshened up the artwork on your walls? Studies have shown that looking at artificial landscapes, such as paintings or photographs of nature, can elicit feelings of calm, relieve stress, and increase cognitive function.
Even watching a documentary or looking at nature photos on your smartphone can have health benefits.
Create a sense of calm
In 2024, we served nearly 74,000 members of our community and beyond through free and low-cost arts programming at LHUCA.
■ First Friday Art Trail
■ Hub City Renaissance Faire
■ Un(wine)d with the Arts
■ Classes at the Helen DeVitt Jones Clay Studio
■ Ballroom Dance
■ Firehouse Presents
■ and more!
Help us continue to serve our community through the arts with your tax-deductible gift today.
Wishing you a joyful New Year!
Our mission is to cultivate and celebrate all the arts by inspiring creativity and engaging with the community. LHUCA ● 511 Ave. K ● Lubbock, Texas 79401
The process of deciding what to keep and what to lose can be challenging, both physically and emotionally, as you weed through years of accumulated trinkets and knick-knacks. But you don’t have to take on this overwhelming task alone. There are more than 300 Caring Transitions teams across the country, with dedicated experts ready to help who understand the challenges and the benefits of decluttering your house.
Once you’ve reduced the mess of items together, reimagine your living space with small changes to improve the wellness within your walls.
Ways to improve indoor spaces to benefit your health
Bring nature inside
Studies have shown that having indoor plants can boost your mood, reduce stress, and can clean the air by absorbing toxins and producing oxygen.
Increase airflow
On days with pleasant weather, opening screened windows and doors is an easy way to improve your living space.
Ventilating your home with fresh air can help reduce the spread of toxins,
The way you set up your indoor living space can impact the activities you choose to do indoors. Lean into daily activities that create a sense of calm in your surroundings.
Activities like tai chi, meditation, and yoga create a peaceful environment, which can reduce stress and have cognitive benefits.
Creative activities that help us slow down and soak in our environment, such as drawing and writing, can improve our mood and increase mental health.
Consider the space between your ears
When examining the places where we spend our time, don’t forget to consider your headspace.
Studies have shown that our belief system has a direct correlation to the way we interact with our surroundings. Creating a space in your home for journaling and reflection can help to clear your mind and bring forth a positive attitude.
If you need inspiration for how to reimagine your home, don’t be shy about asking your Caring Transitions of the South Plains team for help. They’ve navigated countless move-ins and move-outs and are experts at setting you up to start living your best life, right from day one.
- Source: Caring Transitions
Banana Zucchini bread
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Ingredients
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup can`ola oil
• 1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 medium sized bananas)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup zucchini, shredded
• ½ cup pecans, chopped
2. Beat together the sugar and oil
3. Add in the mashed banana, egg, and vanilla
4. In a medium bowl whisk together both flours, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt
5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir on low until just combined
6. Using a spoon fold in the zucchini and pecans
7. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spay and pour in batter
8. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean
The 10-year rule for retirement accounts: How new guidelines could impact your IRA beneficiaries
In 2020, The SECURE Act changed the IRA inheritance landscape – terrain that would shift again in 2022 with the passage of the SECURE Act 2.0.
Over the summer, that new ground was firmed up as the IRS finalized regulations that will go into effect January 1, 2025.
Here’s a look at the rules and how they could impact your wealth and
wealth transfer planning.
One of the biggest changes brought by the original SECURE Act was the introduction of the “10-year rule” for designated beneficiaries, which sought to stem the amount of time inherited money could grow tax-free.
Implemented in January 2020, the 10-year rule requires most nonspouse beneficiaries to withdraw the
entire balance of an inherited IRA within 10 years. It also set parameters around timing, distributions and beneficiary categories.
SECURE Act 1.0:
Required with some exceptions, that the entire balance of an inherited retirement account be distributed within 10 years of the owner’s death; raised the age when RMDs must be taken:
RMDs begin at 72 for those born between July 1, 1949 and 1950.
SECURE Act 2.0:
Maintained the 10-year rule; further raised the age at which RMDs must be taken:
RMDs begin at 73 for those born between 1951 and 1959 and at 75 for those born after 1960.
Key guidelines
Required minimum distributions (RMDs)
The minimum amount that must be withdrawn from a retirement account each year after the account owner reaches the designated age.
Required beginning date (RBD)
The date by/on which the first RMD must be taken. This date is April 1 of the year after an IRA owner reaches their applicable RMD start age (currently 73).
Eligible designated beneficiaries (EDBs)
Beneficiaries who may take distributions over their life expectancy – but may also choose to apply the 10-year rule, depending on their situation, including:
• Spouses
• Individuals not more than 10 years younger than the retirement plan account or IRA owner (this includes an individual older than the IRA owner)
• Minor children of the retirement plan account or IRA owner only (note: these must be children of the account owner – not a grandchild, niece, nephew, etc. – and after they reach age 21, the account must be depleted within 10 years)
• Disabled individuals
• Chronically ill individuals
Non-eligible designated beneficiaries (NEDBs)
Beneficiaries who are subject to the 10-year rule, including:
• Those not falling into any of the above groups, who inherited from someone who died before their RBD.
• Those not falling into any of the above groups, who inherited from someone who died after their RBD.
“The changes will have the biggest impact for beneficiaries of larger accounts, further exacerbated if those beneficiaries are successful themselves and taxed at higher rates. This compressed time period could force distributions into higher taxer brackets,” said Jim Kidney, CPA, CPWA, who supervises the financial planning consulting practice at Raymond James.
“Before the 10-year rule, the ‘stretch IRA’ strategy enabled inheritors to spread distributions – and the tax impact – across their life expectancies.”
While that possibility is much more limited now, there are alternative strategies for maximizing IRA
The 10-year rule for accounts
(Continued from Page 14)
funds in line with current regulations.
Considerations for IRA owners
Roth conversion
Converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA before an account owner reaches their RBD can keep those converted dollars at a lower tax bracket compared to if they were forced to take it as an RMD from the Traditional IRA later.
Furthermore, the converted dollars and associated earnings will be tax free to the owner and ultimately to a beneficiary, provided several conditions are met.
Life insurance
A somewhat more involved planning strategy is to consider using distributions from a pre-tax retirement account to purchase life insurance, allowing the policy holder to name as beneficiary the same person they intended to inherit their retirement account.
Considerations for IRA beneficiaries
Inheritance circumstances
The finer points of how a beneficiary inherits an account will impact how the 10-year rule is applied and how RMDs are managed.
If the account owner dies before their RBD:
A non-eligible beneficiary will need to deplete the account by December 31 of the 10th year following the owner’s death but will not have to take RMDs.
If the account owner dies after their RBD:
A non-eligible designated beneficiary will need to take RMDs in years one through nine, with a final distribution in year 10.
This RMD requirement is generally based on the single life expectancy of the beneficiary.
Missed RMDs
Because final guidance regarding the 10-year rule has been shared four years after the rule’s introduction, some beneficiaries could have needed to take RMDs in the intervening period.
In many of these cases, the IRS is issuing waivers for missed RMDs. This waiver only applies to non-eligible designated beneficiaries under the 10-year rule who inherited from an IRA owner who died after their RBD.
Distribution timing
For beneficiaries in high tax brackets, it’s important to weigh strategic timing options for distribution.
For example, if a beneficiary plans to retire five years after inheriting, it may be most efficient to take minimum distributions while they’re still working and increase payments to deplete the account in their first five years of retirement.
While this rule is settled, the climate is sure to change again, inviting new tax and financial planning implications.
To keep your footing, work closely with your financial advisor and, when appropriate, experienced estate planning and tax professionals.
Beware of That ‘Big Ugly Hole’
Sunday, September 8, 1974.
Robert “Evel” Knievel was nervous.
“I can’t sleep nights,” he had told Sports Illustrated. “I toss and turn, and all I can see is that big ugly hole in the ground grinning up at me like a death’s head.”
Near Twin Falls, Idaho, about 15,000 fascinated fans had crowded onto land that rimmed the Snake River Canyon, the “big ugly hole” that Evel had referred to. The professional daredevil had rented several acres for what he promised would be a spectacular achievement—soaring across the quarter-mile-wide river canyon in a steam-powered rocket.
A comic-book superhero come to life, the ruggedly handsome adrenaline junkie had been on the national scene since the 1960s with his spectacular motorcycle jumps — and crashes.
steeply angled 108-foot-long ramp at 200 miles an hour.
As he lifted off from the Earth, an emergency parachute at the back of his craft unexpectedly unfurled. It released the main chute, which caused the rocket to roll, then flip downward and begin a lazy drift toward the river below.
The machine fell out of sight from the crowd, where the people there, including Knievel’s wife and children, feared the worst. Falling into the churning water, everyone knew, would mean certain death for the daredevil strapped inside the Skycycle.
Miraculously, however, the rocket bounced off a canyon wall and came
1970s 1970s
For years, 35-year-old Knievel had boasted that he would one day leap the Grand Canyon. When the Department of the Interior turned thumbs down on that oddball idea, he took on Idaho’s less magnificent, but still imposing, Snake River Canyon instead.
His team had set about constructing a 13-foot homemade rocket that Evel dubbed the Skycycle. In reality, it was a dubious contraption assembled from a discarded airplane fuel tank and a seat from an old go-kart.
The risk-taker had explained to the press that he would blast off from the canyon rim, clear the abyss, and parachute down to a soft landing, aided by a shock absorber on the rocket’s nose to cushion the impact.
At least, that was the plan.
That afternoon, at 3:36 p.m., Knievel crawled into the cramped cylinder, flipped the launch switch, and shot up the
to rest seven feet from the river’s edge. Moments later, a rescue helicopter lifted Evel from the shore and hurried him to the launch site.
The event had lasted 16 minutes.
Most in the crowd were overjoyed that Knievel had returned safely, but some there claimed that Evel had released the emergency chute on purpose, that what had unfolded was all planned.
He, in return, argued that he had delivered on his promise to make the attempt. End of discussion.
Years later, the undaunted performer shared a favorite quote of President Teddy Roosevelt: “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
Dedicate 2025 to self-discovery & emotional wellness
What do you think is the most important aspect of health?
We are bombarded with things to do for our health. It wasn’t long after my best friend retired that she told me, “I understand why you have to retire: There are so many things you need to do to keep your body going.” Yes, as I often tell people, old age is more than going on cruises.
Half of our communications are telling us what to do to make our body feel better. The other half is showing us what a wonderful time we should be having with 5,000 other people on a ship.
The communications area is crowded isn’t it? Everyone is ready to tell us what to do and the truth is, by the time we are seniors, haven’t we
earned the privilege of doing what we want?
I do remember my dear beloved Granny going into a nursing home at the age of 89. They wanted her to “come down and exercise.” You know what? She didn’t want to exercise. If you haven’t earned the right to do as you please by 89, when will you?
I often see and hear too much bossing going on toward elders. Isn’t it the children we should be telling what to do? Do you really need to be told what to do?
says, “You might consider this or that.” I do not like to be bossed. I have developed a streak of independence that has been well developed in my life.
You can get whiplash looking from one thing to
another to “save” you in old age. And I can guarantee you, none of us will be saved from death.
I consider it a little different when someone says, “You should do this or that” compared when someone
So as seniors who want to live a healthy life, we can eat well and exercise. We can do all kinds of things, but what if we just stop doing. What if you stop that constant state of doing and turn inward for an hour or so a day.
What if we, in some ways, prepare for our death. And I am not talking about seeing a lawyer or mortician. You can do that, too. But I am speaking of making things right for yourself and sometimes others - in the heart.
I’m not suggesting you quit having fun. Of course, you want to do what makes you happy. But for one hour a day, you can contemplate or pray or read or journal. There are numerous ways to do it. And what is it that I’m speaking of doing? It
is going deep into who you are: your feelings, learning to forgive, seeing where you are holding grudges and working on letting them go, let anger arise, allowing the thoughts and feelings you have to come forward so you can work with them.
We never know when our day will come. I want to be right with
myself when that day comes. I want to have forgiven everyone I need to forgive. And if I haven’t, I want to be working on it the day I leave this world.
I want to understand my life. What have I learned?
This isn’t the top layer I am talking about, but the layer that is deep, so deep that we might not get there without setting aside time to do this kind of work.
Some people want to work with a therapist. Some don’t. Do it your way. This is when we examine our life.
And, like in AA, we see where we have been at fault, missed the mark, or shirked a responsibility.
Do we need to ask for forgiveness?
Do we need to forgive ourselves realizing we did the best we could, even though it might have hurt others?
We are in the time of life that we need to get right with ourselves. I’m not talking about one night.
I’m suggesting that you dedicate 2025 to self-discovery and emotional wellness. I will be offering some book suggestions next month. Why now? If not now, when? We are getting older. If not now, it will probably be never. When everyone is gone, will you be happy with yourself?
Are you at peace with others in your life? They can be alive or dead. You can work though issues either way. You don’t do this for others. This is what you do for yourself.
At our age, we will be losing others we love. This is the way to support ourselves through loses. It is inevitable. Many people die being emotionally immature. I want to die being emotionally mature.
It is your choice.
Let me stop you right there. If it involves early morning, sweating, or people, then NO.
The older you get, the more you realize it’s not what happens, but how you deal with it.
- Tina Turner
My family told me to stop telling Thanksgiving jokes, but I said I couldn’t quit cold turkey.
$8.2 million for inpatient relational health unit
Covenant Children’s and Texas Tech Physicians are expanding their Relational Health Center thanks to a $4.1 million grant from the State of Texas through Senate Bill 30.
Covenant Children’s will construct a six-bed inpatient unit, expanding the services of its current Relational Health Center.
“Covenant Health remains at the forefront of pediatric mental health care in the region,” Senator Charles Perry said, “offering vital services to our community’s most vulnerable children. This $4.1 million grant bridges a crucial gap, empowering us to meet these children where they are and guide them toward becoming whole and healthy adults.”
In 2023, along with Texas Tech Physicians, Covenant Children’s opened the Relational Health Center. The outpatient unit supports children and families with mental, physical, and emotional needs.
In its first year, more than 12,000 patients were treated through the Relational Health Center including intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization programs, outpatient care, individual and group therapy, and via tele -
medicine with Texas Tech Physicians and the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) program providing care inside schools.
Dr. Lara Johnson is the chief medical officer at Covenant Health.
“At Covenant Children’s, our relational health unit is changing the landscape of pediatric care for children and adolescents,” Johnson said. “We are beginning the design phase of our crisis stabilization unit for children and adolescents which will work alongside our outpatient programs in the relational health center.
“We’ve already seen the positive impact these programs are having on children and families, and we look forward to continuing to meet the needs of our community with this next phase.”
The Children ’s Hospitals Construction Grant Program designates money from the general revenue fund specifically for constructing inpatient mental health beds for children.
Covenant Children’s is one of two hospitals in the state to receive funding to provide inpatient mental health resources specifically for children. The grant requires Covenant Children’s to match the funds given with private donations or other means. The Covenant Health Foundation has raised the money, matching the grant, giving the hospital a total of $8.2 million for this project.
Dr. Sarah Mallard-Wakefield is the clinic director.
“It has been the privilege of a lifetime to bring the highest standards of youth day treatment to Lubbock and the surrounding area,” Mallard-Wakefield said.
“We have truly elevated mental health care for our region. We are not done yet.”
The new inpatient unit is in the design phase. Construction will begin in 2025 and should be operational in 2026.
Traffic shift set for 19th Street
Major traffic changes are planned for the 19th Street project. In December, crews switched traffic between I-27 and Avenue Q, onto the westbound lanes and began work to install drainage, make road repairs, and place a new road surface along the eastbound lanes. Drivers should expect slow moving traffic and delays during the operation as crews remove concrete barrier along the project limits.
The work is part of a $25.69 million project making improvements to more than three miles of US 62/ SH 114 in the city of Lubbock, from Memphis Avenue to I-27.
Improvements include rebuilding a portion of the road, placing a new road surface and making updates to the drainage system, sidewalks, traffic signals and lighting.
Quality End of Life Care
Meaningful engagement activities
By Dr. Lakelyn Gerontologist and caregiving advocate, Home Instead Inc.
Keeping an individual living with dementia engaged in meaningful activities is important for many reasons. I recently spoke with my friend Loretta Veney on the Caregiver Chats podcast about this topic.
Loretta is an incredible person, brimming with joy and positivity. She was a family caregiver to her mom, who passed away from Alzheimer’s, and she is also a passionate dementia advocate, author, inspirational speaker, and trainer. When I think about meaningful engagement and activities in dementia care, Loretta immediately comes to mind. She always has fun, creative and inexpensive ideas.
Creating opportunities for meaningful engagement may sound complicated, but it really comes down to finding something the person enjoys and modifying it to meet them where they’re at. Here are some important things to consider.
Why meaningful engagement is important:
Provides purpose and meaning, boosting self-esteem.
Offers cognitive stimulation and social interaction.
Can be incorporated into daily routines.
Is fun and enjoyable for both the caregiver and the person with dementia.
Helps manage dementia-related behaviors.
Creates connections between family and caregivers.
Offers respite for caregivers.
Tailoring engagement to the person
Consider past hobbies and modify them as needed.
Don’t be discouraged if an activity is initially disliked; try again later.
Meet the person where they are, considering their current abilities.
Engage all the senses, especially in the late stages of the disease.
Tips for structuring activities
Keep activities short and manageable.
Break down steps and instructions.
Simplify tasks to match abilities.
Ensure a calm environment, avoiding overstimulation.
Take breaks if needed and
Support them in doing it themselves and offer assistance only when needed.
Hopefully these tips will help you create more meaningful engagement opportunities for your loved one. If you have activity ideas, email Dr. Lakelyn at caregiverchats@ homeinsteadinc.com.
Golden Gazette Crossword Puzzle
ACROSS
1. Trim
5. Entice
10. Frolic
14. Earthen pot
15. Very hard mineral
16. Extent of space
17. Earth’s satellite
18. Playful
19. Kilocalorie
20. Having no distinct feet
22. Inhabitant of Achaea
24. Postpone
25. Bloodsucking worm
26. Clublike weapon
29. Back portions of feet
33. Equipment
36. Cooked in an oven
39. Arm joint
40. Greek god of love
42. Facial hair
44. Timber wolf
45. Encroach
47. Of sedate character
49. Open mesh fabric
50. Republic in southern Asia
51. Honey gatherers
53. Speaks with impediment
57. Influential person
61. Stain
63. Played at a fast tempo
64. Heroic
65. Rope used to guide
a horse
67. Rectangular pier
68. Very strong wind
69. Legitimate
70. Matures
71. Metrical romance
72. Male friend
73. Clump of trees
DOWN
1. Wanderer
2. Run away with a lover
3. Indifferent
4. One behind the other
5. Narrate
6. Large flightless bird
7. Decoration
8. Cost
9. Greek goddess of fortune
10. Dissolute man
11. Killer whale
12. Intend
13. Comrade
21. Bedouin
23. Continuous dull pain
27. Taxicab
28. Supplements
30. Ebony
31. Roundish projection
32. Study hard
33. French military cap
34. Metallic element
35. Tailless amphibian
37. Consume
38. Dull
41. Namely
43. Decease
46. Frozen rain
48. Sandy tract
52. Peace salutation
54. Roman general
55. Introduction
56. Monetary unit of Zaire
58. Small tuned drum
59. Eight singers
60. Animal
61. Foretell
62. Lubricates
63. The power to reject
64. Ovum
66. Two-wheeled one-horse carriage
Solution on P. 21
Lawmakers in 1999 wanted to go after coyotes —
the Spanish slang for human smugglers, who preyed on migrants
(Continued from Page 6)
spring of 2023 during a crosscountry trip from North Carolina to California, where he lived at the time. His father had just died and left him some belongings — including a car. Persinger, a musician who had always struggled earning money, met up with a friend in San Antonio where the two were going to record a few songs. He said he planned to stay for about a month.
When he met the attractive woman at the store, he said he was surprised when she started flirting with him. When she offered Persinger the driving gig — which included gas money — he said he wasn’t suspicious. He said he had done his share of hitchhiking around the country and could relate to someone needing a ride. Persinger declined to share certain details of the encounter because he feared retaliation from the woman who “ruined” his life, he said through his lawyer.
“Sometimes, that ride never comes,” Persinger, now 34, said in an interview at the Maverick County Jail. “I didn’t know the term ‘border crisis’ ‘til I was about to go to trial.”
“Where my drivers at?”:
Criminals recruit on social media
Two men wearing camouflage sit in the back seat of an SUV in the photo posted on an Instagram story. The caption reads:
“The routes been green guaranteed pay guaranteed pick up.”
Another post shows a stack of money with the caption, “Where my drivers at.”
Another depicts a screenshot of a map with the caption: “Whoever tryna make 10k at 6 am, hit me guaranteed hit.”
It was a post similar to these — shared with The Texas Tribune by a lawyer — that arrived in Nathan Perrow’s social media app inbox.
A few months after graduating from high school in 2021, Perrow received a vague message through Snapchat asking if he could give a person and their friends a ride for $1,200. They’d also cover his gas to and from the border.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” Perrow, of Houston, told a Texas House committee last fall during a hearing about proposed changes to the smuggling law. “I just thought I was going to give them a ride, and I was going to get paid.”
But when he arrived at the destination he’d been given in Del Rio, he said no one was there. Then a state trooper’s flashing lights appeared behind him. Perrow was charged with six counts of human smuggling because troopers found six migrants near the location where they stopped him, he said. “Never interacted with them, but they were there,” Perrow told lawmakers.
Perrow could not be reached for comment by the Tribune.
The drive may appear simple, but it requires getting past U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints on all major highways and a plethora of law enforcement agencies, including Border Patrol, watching for suspicious vehicles. Past the checkpoints and farther inland, immigration enforcement is less prevalent.
“What’s being asked [in social
media ads] doesn’t seem particularly bad behavior — it’s picking someone up and driving them somewhere else,” said Jack Winfrey, a lawyer with the RioGrande Public Defender’s office.
Sylvia Delgado, who has represented 171 people accused of human smuggling, said most of her clients shared a variation of the same story: They were looking for a way to make money when they received a solicitation on WhatsApp along the lines of, “Hey, do you wanna make make a bunch of money by just giving somebody a ride? Just call this number and we’ll give you somebody that needs transport,” she said.
“That’s generally how it happens,” Delgado said. “Doesn’t say, ‘Oh, and that’s illegal so be careful.’ It doesn’t warn them of the dangers.”
Pietrazek, the San Antonio lawyer, said she’s had clients who first received money for gas, as much as $300 sent digitally over apps like CashApp, like a “carrot dangling in front of them” with a promise to be paid for the job once it’s complete.
“It’s probably about the time that people get into their car and they smell like brush and they have mud on their boots, and they don’t speak English — that’s when it probably hits them,” she said.
How Texas has ramped up criminal penalties for smuggling
They called it the “coyote bill.”
Lawmakers in 1999 wanted to go after coyotes — the Spanish slang for human smugglers, who preyed on migrants by squeezing them for money and often putting them at risk
of dying during long journeys across rough and isolated terrain, recalled Norma Chávez, a Democratic state representative from El Paso who wrote the bill.
The law — formally added to the penal code as “unlawful transport” — passed without much opposition. It created a state jail felony, punishable by up to two years in prison, for transporting someone for money in a way that is designed to hide them from authorities and “creates a substantial likelihood” the person could get hurt.
“I was ahead of the curve,” Chávez said, in a recent interview. “I recognized that we need to also go after those who use this for profit.”
But migration across the world was beginning to change in ways that are still unfolding.
The federal government ramped up national security efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — including along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Guadalupe CorreaCabrera, a George Mason University professor who studies smuggling. The government doubled down on border enforcement efforts, adding thousands of new Border Patrol agents, spending big on surveillance technology and starting a border wall that remains incomplete.
The border crackdown didn’t stop migrants fleeing poverty, criminal violence or political repression from coming and trying to cross. But as the crossing became more difficult, human smuggling mutated into a global billion-dollar behemoth that has become a major source of profit for organized criminal organizations,
(See County courts, Page 22)
‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’
Netflix has a belated Christmas gift for you.
It’s an animated film from England that offers the latest from the delightful (and highly popular over there)
Wallace and Gromit franchise, which was developed
by the fiendishly clever punster Nick Park, whose works have been around in the UK since the early 1990s.
For his efforts, Park has garnered three Academy Awards and a Peabody Award.
In case you’ve missed previous Wallace and Gromit offerings, here’s a brief description.
Movie Preview
Wallace is an odd-looking, eccentric guy who resides in Wigam, a fictional burg in northern England. guage a la movie icon Buster Keaton.
He’s an inveterate inventor, creating elaborate Rube Goldberg-like contraptions that often come with flaws that keep Wallace’s creations from achieving their desired goals.
He also offers some offthe-wall services, such as a pest-control service called Anti-Pesto. (Park has always loved punning.)
Gromit is Wallace’s pet dog and best friend.
The cool canine enjoys knitting, playing chess and cooking. He never speaks— he has no visible mouth—but communicates through facial expressions and body lan-
Highly intelligent, Gromit is a proud graduate of Dogwarts University. He enjoys good books (“Pup Fiction,” “Bite Club,” “The Bone Identity”), classic films (“Citizen Canine”), popular rock bands (The Beagles, The Red Hot Chili Puppies) and such solo singers as Doggie Osmond.
Did we mention that Park enjoys making puns?
In “Vengeance Most Fowl,” Wallace has created a “smart gnome” called Norbot.
Norbot has a mind of his own and becomes the main suspect when goods become pilfered from gardens across the region.
Wallace and Gromit learn that an evil crime boss—a penguin named Feathers McGraw—is seeking revenge for Wallace and Gromit’s part in McGraw’s incarceration for a diamond theft. (Feathers has stewed for 30 years while being locked up.)
The three-foot-tall, guntoting baddie wears a rubber glove atop his head—don’t ask why—and never speaks, his sullen muteness and his beady eyes only making him more terrifying.
By Randal C. Hill
Wallace and Gromit movies employ stop-motion animation techniques, where films are shot one frame at a time and clay models are moved ever so slightly to create the impression of movement. Think Gumby.
Executive producer Carla Shelley offers a surprise about the production: “It’s really emotional.
“I think we’re going to make everybody cry. We’re going to surprise everybody and make you laugh, as well.”
On Jan. 3, toss some popcorn into the microwave, don your jammies, curl up on the couch, switch on good old Netflix and get ready to enjoy a wonderfully entertaining import from merry old England.
My wife called to tell me she saw a bear on the way to work. I asked her how she knew it was on its way to work. She hung up on me.
If people don’t like you, it’s OK. You only need to be concerned when dogs don’t like you. Then it’s time for some reflection.
I signed up for an exercise class and was told to wear loose fitting clothing. If I had any loose fitting clothing, I wouldn’t have signed up to begin with.
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Covenant Health and Covenant Children’s are in need of volunteers. Donate a morning or afternoon each week to help serve patients and families! If interested, call 806-7250465 , or email parkss1@ covhs.org 3/19
f or s A le by o W ner
2 burial spaces in Resthaven Cemetery, Lubbock, TX. Bargain price! $2,750 for one; $5,000 for both. Call Lynn at 806-787-8474 or 806-6870077 9/23
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County courts don’t have enough personnel to keep up —
from prosecutors to court reporters to interpreters
(Continued from Page 19)
Correa-Cabrera said.
“If people could apply for a working visa and could come here instead of paying $12,000 to a smuggler, they would pay the fees to the U.S. government. But that’s not possible,” Correa-Cabrera added. “This is a very hypocritical system.”
As human smuggling became bigger and more profitable, Texas lawmakers in 2011 increased the law to a third-degree felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Four years later, they added a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, if the smuggled person risked injury during transport or was younger than 18, and a first-degree felony punishable by up to 99 years if the smuggled person was injured or became a sexual assault victim.
In the spring of 2021, three months after President Joe Biden took office, Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, the sprawling border crackdown that has cost taxpayers more than $11 billion to date.
Soon, Texas state troopers began arresting migrants along the southern border, mostly for criminal trespassing on private property. National Guard soldiers patrolled the banks along the Rio Grande with long guns.
At the state Capitol, lawmakers again took up the human smuggling law and allowed prosecution even if prosecutors couldn’t prove a driver was going to be paid.
By then, Texas police were beginning to surpass federal authorities in arresting and prosecuting people for human smuggling.
The feds charged 5,046 people
under the federal smuggling law in 2021 — 3,471 in Texas. The same year, Texas police arrested 7,755 under the state smuggling law.
That gap has only widened. In the 2022 fiscal year, federal law enforcement charged 2,745 people with human smuggling in Texas. Meanwhile, Texas law enforcement made roughly 17,592 smuggling arrests that year.
And while Texas lawmakers have steadily increased prison time for offenders, those charged under the federal law were likely to receive far less prison time.
The most recent revision of the
“That’s an absolute absurd outcome, but that’s the way the law is written,” Childress said. “If the law was not intended to target a certain population, why is that all we’re seeing?”
Border prosecutors say smuggling cases are already clogging their court dockets and the mandatory minimum sentence means more defendants are likely to take their chances with a jury trial. Few cases filed under the new law, which took effect in February, have reached a final conclusion.
The number of state criminal cases filed in border counties has increased 286% since 2020, from 7,350 to
Police are grabbing low-hanging fruit — who will under the new law face a mandatory 10 years in prison — but don’t appear interested in investigating the bigger fish connected to the drug cartels.
state smuggling law, passed by the Legislature a year ago, is perhaps the broadest. It added the 10-year minimum sentence and prohibits transporting a person with the intent of concealing them from police.
It includes no mention of the passenger’s immigration status — which means police could legally stop, question and arrest someone suspected of concealing a passenger even if they’re a U.S. citizen.
El Paso Public Defender Kelli Childress, whose office has nearly 400 smuggling cases, posed a scenario: If she were to give her father a ride and her car has tinted windows and she drives away from an officer, she could be arrested on suspicion of smuggling her own father.
28,366 last year, according to the Border Prosecution Unit, a collective of 17 border district attorney’s offices from El Paso to Brownsville.
Most of those are smuggling cases, said Tonya Spaeth Ahlschwede, the unit’s chair.
She said those cases are piling up, which strains county courts that don’t have enough personnel — from prosecutors to court reporters to interpreters — to keep up.
“We only have so many people at a time to be in the courtroom to handle these cases,” Ahlschwede said.
Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith, who supports the mandatory minimum sentence, agreed that local courts are unprepared for the crush of cases and will need more court-
rooms, judges and support personnel. “You have to apply that deterrent for it to have results,” Smith said. “If you don’t enforce a law, people don’t follow it.”
Arrested near the border
One night in May 2023, Persinger stopped his father’s Hyundai, still bearing North Carolina plates, off Route 57 outside of Eagle Pass. About a quarter mile away sat a trooper in his SUV with all its lights off, watching the vehicle in an area “known for a high volume of human smuggling,” the officer later wrote.
After seeing several people emerge from the brush and jump into the Hyundai, the trooper pulled Persinger over, according to a probable cause affidavit. One “undocumented alien” ran off immediately and was followed by two more, despite the trooper’s orders to “stop and show hands,” he wrote.
Persinger remained still in the driver’s seat. He agreed to talk to the trooper, telling the officer about the woman he’d met at the grocery story and that he was offered money to pick up four people. Later, he showed the trooper the instructions on his phone explaining how, where and when to do just that, Persinger’s lawyers said.
The trooper arrested Persinger. He had been arrested before, according to online court records, for low-level crimes like public intoxication, lying on a sidewalk, and having an open container of alcohol in public.
Persinger was shocked.
He told the trooper he thought he
(See The jury, Page 23)
Toy Drive for the Texas Girls & Boys Ranch
The annual Holtzman Christmas Toy Drive benefitting the children at Texas Girls & Boys Ranch provided a meaningful Christmas to many children in need. Rhonda Hodges is pictured by the Christmas tree with some of the donations. Many brand new toys were donated, and more than $800 of donated gift cards were also delivered to the ranch to be used for behavioral rewards, completed chores, good grades, etc. It took two vehicles to deliver all the toys to the ranch. Holtzman Wealth Strategies collects items each year to be given to the children at Texas Girls & Boys Ranch. Information on Texas Girls & Boys Ranch is online at www.txgbr.org.
jury gave him 4 years
(Continued from Page 22)
had stumbled upon a work opportunity — and that he was attracted to the woman.
“I was just like, what about Uber drivers or taxis, private charters — things of that nature,” Persinger later wrote to the Tribune. “Never thought I could end up in this situation for allegedly giving some people a ride.”
Amrutha Jindal oversees indigent defense appointments for Operation Lone Star arrests as the director of Lone Star Defenders.
To her, Persinger’s case highlighted some of the worst aspects of the state’s human smuggling arrests: Police are grabbing low-hanging fruit — who will under the new law face a mandatory 10 years in prison — but don’t appear interested in investigating the bigger fish connected to the drug cartels.
“It doesn’t really make sense,” Jindal said. “For those people to get slapped with a 10-year sentence, it’s shocking — and most of these young people have no idea.”
In a Maverick County courthouse, the trooper who arrested Persinger testified at trial earlier this year that he never called any of the numbers that were on Persinger’s phone for directions, Persinger’s lawyers recounted. Nor did he search the names of the people affiliated with the phone numbers.
The trooper did not testify that Persinger tried to hide the people in the car.
A jury found Persinger guilty. Prosecutors wanted a 10-year prison sentence. Since he was charged before the 10-year minimum took effect, his lawyers asked for three years. The jury gave him four years.
Uriel J. García contributed to this story. This story is part of a collaboration with FRONTLINE, the PBS series, through its Local Journalism Initiative, which is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
‘Mission Possible: Protecting Freedom, Justice, and Democracy in the Spirit of Nonviolence365’
The Day of Service on Jan. 20, 2025, will be the 30th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a National Day of Service.
The theme for 2025 is “Mission Possible: Protecting Freedom, Justice, and Democracy in the Spirit of Nonviolence365.”
This theme guides the events and programming, inspired by Dr. King’s pioneering work and Mrs. Coretta Scott King’s continuation of his legacy.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service is a day to honor Dr. King’s life and legacy by volunteering to improve communities.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated on the third Monday of January every year. It was the first federal holiday to honor an AfricanAmerican.
During the less than 13 years of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement, from December 1955 until April 4, 1968, African Americans achieved more progress toward racial equality in America than the previous 350 years had produced.
Dr. King is widely regarded as America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history.
Drawing inspiration from both his Christian faith and the peaceful teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King
True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
led a nonviolent movement in the late 1950s and 1960s to achieve legal equality for African-Americans in the United States.
While others were advocating for freedom by “any means necessary,” including violence, Martin Luther King, Jr. used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, such as protests, grassroots organizing, and
civil disobedience to achieve seemingly-impossible goals.
He went on to lead similar campaigns against poverty and international conflict, always maintaining fidelity to his principles that men and women everywhere, regardless of color or creed, are equal members of the human family.
Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Nobel Peace
Prize lecture and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” are among the most revered orations and writings in the English language. His teachings are studied by scholars and students worldwide. He is the only nonpresident to have a national holiday dedicated in his honor and is the only non-president memorialized on the Great Mall in the nation’s capital. He is memorialized in hundreds of statues, parks, streets, squares, churches and other public facilities around the world as a leader whose teachings are increasinglyrelevant to the progress of humankind.
