Warning of highway construction where there is none will cause people to slow down and
there’s nothing wrong with that. But when they see nothing, pretty soon they will zoom right past a warning sign with potentially
disastrous results.
The point is, it is often more damaging to “err on the side of caution” than to use common sense.
For as long as
I can remember, we have had crises that create mass panic only to be forgotten a couple of weeks later.
Let’s warn people when it’s
warranted and take reasonable precautions against threats.
But let’s not go overboard.
Health authorities are absolutely in the right to do everything they know how to prepare for the spread of the flu. But it is hardly
cause for the kind of worldwide panic it has caused.
And we are right to take all the precautions we can, including not sending sick
children school, sending sick employees home and washing our hands often and, yes, Dr. Schwartz, that includes singing “Happy Birthday”
as we do.
But panic? I don’t think so.
Each year, 200,000 people are admitted to hospitals in the US because of flu. And 36,000 of them
die each year. It’s a different strain, yes. But does the new stuff warrant that kind of panic?
Because of that panic, those who really
need medical attention now have to plow though hundreds jamming health care facilities seeking attention for really minor complaints.
And there are other problems.
Why did we give it so much play last week? Simple. A newspaper should reflect what is going on in the
community and every time anyone spoke last week, one of the first words issued were “Swine Flu.”
In a totally different case that
may seem minor but really isn’t, I have noticed highway signs warning about the highway resurfacing project in Terrell County. And
I saw similar cases elsewhere on a drive to the Fort Worth area last weekend.
Signs warned of “loose gravel” and “no center stripe”
several places along the US Highways 90 and 285 and State Highway 349 even though there was no evidence of construction anywhere in
sight.
In four or five places, I encountered signs saying, “Flagman ahead” and “Be prepared to stop.” Again, no activity was evident
anywhere.
Highway crews have had a habit forever of erecting warning signs weeks before a job starts and
The Swine Flu, or H1N1, scare is a case in point. Health officials have issued warnings of a potential “pandemic” and many have even
used that term for the present condition, even though there were only about 2,000 confirmed cases worldwide so far.
My Random House
unabridged dictionary defines “pandemic” as “prevalent throughout an entire country, continent or the whole world.”
At 2,000 confirmed
cases among a world population of more than six billion, your chances of getting the disease is something like one in three million.
Is that really “prevalent?” Does it rise to the level of a “pandemic?”
This week, Mexico revised its count from “about 2,000” last
week to 590 as of Monday, though there were nearly 10,000 “suspected” cases.
In our own West Texas region, there were 20 “probable”
cases but none was confirmed.
They say the real concern is this fall and winter because that is really the flu season.
OK. But it’s fall in the southern hemisphere right now and New Zealand was the only country below the equator with any reported cases at press time.
By JIM STREET
Ed & Pub
Remember the fable about the shepherd who cried, “Wolf?” He was lonely and found he could cry, “Wolf!” and
other shepherds would come from nearby to help and he wouldn’t be lonely.
But he called for help once too often and, when a real wolf
did come, no one came to his aid.
Cry “Wolf” too many times and people will soon start ignoring you.
To the Editor,
The title says “Cash on hand urged,” News Leader, April 24, 2009, Page 1, but what comes after that is “spend, spend,
spend.”
I am really disappointed to see that the wishes of the taxpayers of Terrell County made clear in the March meeting are not
taken more in consideration in regards to the convention center.
Yes, tax percentages have gone down over the years but, with the
outrageous assessment increase of 10 percent per year, everybody’s contribution to the county’s budget has gone up. That’s why there
is money in the bank.
Leave it there for when we taxpayers run out of money, then the county workers at least can keep their jobs.
What
will the convention center be used for? Does Terrell County really think it can attract a big convention for 200 to 500 people in
the near future?
Where will these people stay? All our motel rooms combined can not host that many people.
A Best Western hotel is
a franchise, individually owned and operated, but the research is done by the corporate offices.
In these wonderful economic times,
can Sanderson currently boast an average hotel room occupancy percentage of 65 percent or more?
That is the cutoff for any hotel/motel
to break even.
No franchise is going to consider a hotel anywhere if what is there already does not meet the occupancy.
Are our RV
parks used up to capacity on a regular basis by tourists?
If we want to attract tourists, we should start with a visitor’s center that
is open when tourists come through, not when we see fit to have it open.
Second on the list is to make Oak Street look a whole lot
more attractive to possible customers.
The biggest buildings on Oak are mostly boarded up, in bad repair, neglected and overgrown
with weeds.
What impression does that give to people driving through town and how long will it take before the convention center looks
the same, when there is no income from it to keep up with the maintenance.
Has any research been done in regards to convention centers
in other small towns? Have their tourist revenues gone up since the building of their convention center? Is a convention center a
tourist attraction?
What have been the downfalls of their convention center? What kind of extra – expensive – liabilities are there
for the county when the center is used for big gatherings and food service? What extra permits are needed?
If Terrell County wants
to attract big conventions, what is next, a green golf course in the dessert?
Trying to build this center for the sake
of using the venue tax money is a mistake in my opinion and I don’t think I am the only one.
If the Chamber of Commerce wants it built,
let them pay for the cost over and above the venue tax budget for a monster that nobody really wants, sitting on our main road among
all the other ruins.
Let’s not even start about the (re)moveable sign that will only be a distraction for drivers on the road, accidents
waiting to happen.
Monique Lacroix
Sanderson
Keep money in bank
SANDERSON – Funeral services were Saturday here for Francisca Sanchez Ramirez, 78, a lifelong Sanderson resident who died April 29
in Fort Stockton.
She was born in Sanderson on June 4, 1930, to Rosalio Peña Sanchez and Carolina Ochoa and married Blaz Ramirez in
San Antonio in 1969.
Besides her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by a brother, Raul Sanchez; brother-in-law, Richard
F. Muñoz, and grandparents, Perfecto and Manuela Ochoa and Vicente and Francisco Hernandez.
She is survived by two sisters, Manuela
and Hector DeHoyos of San Antonio and Julia Muñoz of Sanderson; a sister-in-law, Amelia Sanchez of Sanderson, 17 nieces and nephews
and numerous great nieces and nephews.
SANDERSON – Graveside services were Wednesday at Cedar Grove Cemetery here for Tucker Beauregard White, a life-long West Texas rancher
who died Monday, May 4, in Fort Stockton.
Arrangements were under the direction of Shaffer-Nichols Funeral Home.
White was born on
September 18, 1926, in Del Rio. He married Joann Mitchell on February 6, 1951.
He was a rancher and a member of the First United Methodist
Church in Sanderson.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Joann Mitchell White, on November 8, 1993.
He is survived by one son,
Ori T. White of Fort Stockton; three daughters, Felice White of Dallas, Michelle and Stoney Brewer of Midland and Anne Barker of San
Antonio; a brother, J.E. “Jim” White, Jr., of Marfa; a sister, Gene Boland of Del Rio, and ten grandchildren, Allen Humphris and Ashley
LaMonica both, of McKinney; Roxanne Barker, Shelby Barker, Clayton Barker, Kristin Barker and Blake Barker all of Austin, and Tad
Nolen, Matthew White and Mitchell White all of Cloudcroft, NM.
Memorials may be made to Home Hospice of Odessa, 516 North Texas Ave,
Odessa, Texas 79761.