News|Sports|Main Menu|Archives Menu|Classified|Advertising|Monahans
Return to Top
As much fun as I poke at the Cowboys, I have to admit the latest
controversy surrounding the Superbowl XXX champs seems like a bum rap.
When I first heard about it, I was inclined to think and say, "what a
bunch of perverts," but as the story progressed, I really had to eat my
words and thoughts.
I'm not crazy about Michael Irvin, and I haven't given Erik Williams
much thought, but the charges pending against them seem to be based on
some pretty thin evidence.
I constantly hear that disgruntled family members of persons arrested
for one crime or another wish that we print a story when charges against
their relative are dropped. I would, but it's not my beat, so I rarely
hear about such cases.
In this case I, like Irvin, hope the media really attack a story about
the misappropriated, or rather unfounded charges, if any, as,
"intensely," as they did when they were first filed.
I've heard news broadcasters describe Irvin as being bad before the
Cowboys recruited him and still bad.
I'm constantly rebuked by Cowboy fans when I voice my disappointment
with the Cowboys allowing Irvin to continue playing with the team. I'm
told often that it goes on in every sports league and with hundreds,
maybe thousands of athletes.
I can understand that, but Irvin got caught and should know when to
step down. After all, there are a good number of children that hold the
Cowboys to heroic standards and what message does this send to them.
Wire photos that we recieved here at the office during Irvin's previous
misfortunes with the law sketched the Cowboy reciever as a pimp. A
Fedora and calf-length fur coat. Pleeeeeeeese.
I feel the same about Roberto Alamar of the Baltimore Orioles, who
promoted lack of respect to game officials and endorsed insolence when
he spat in an umpire's face.
Old news, I know, but worth mentioning.
There are enough talented athletes out there to invoke the attitude
that, "we're not going to put up with this."
Bad example athletes should be expendable, not commendable.
That's how I see it.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Mari Maldonado is an Enterprise reporter whose column
appears each Monday.
CRITIC'S CORNER
Cowboy of the Pecos
Return to Top
Patrick Dearen's A Cowboy of the Pecos is not about one cowboy, but
about all the cowboys who rode, roped and herded cattle along the Pecos
River from northern New Mexico to the Rio Grande during the late 1880s
and early 1990s.
"He rode hell-bent-for-leather along a Southwest river likened to hell
and entered the myth of the West.
"He was a cowboy of the Pecos," the 252-page non-fiction paperback
begins.
"With skills tailored to the river's unique demands and with chracter
honed by a no-man's-land in which `pecos' also meant murder and `pecos
swap,' theft, he was a breed of cowhand unlike any other," Dearden
writes.
While land along the Pecos was called cowboy's paradise, the Pecos
River was so treacherous it was known as the "graveyard of the cowman's
hopes."
Dearden skillfully captures the essence of the old West from the first
Goodnight-Loving trail drive to the 1920s when cattle trucks and pickups
snatched away the last hope for the cowboys way of life.
Vintage photographs, some from the Barney Hubbs and West of the Museum
collections, support the well-documented true stories.
Midlander Patrick Dearen has written three previous books of Pecos
country lore and legend. A member of Western Writers of America, his
When Cowboys Die was a finalist for the Spur Award.
A Cowboy of the Pecos, ISBN 1-55622-528-8, sells for $12.95. Published
by Wordware Publishing Inc., 1506 Capital Avenue, Plano TX, 75074,
972-423-0090.
Those who wish to share their opinions with their elected officials are
urged to contact one of the following:
U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm/ 179 Russell Senate Office Building/ Washington
D.C. 20510. Phone 202-224-2934.
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison/ 283 Sentate Russell Building/
Washington D.C. 20510-4304. Phone 202-224-5922.
U.S. Rep. 23rd District, Henry Bonilla/ 1529 Longworth House Office
Building/ Washington D.C. 20005. Phone 202-225-4511.
State Sen. District 19, Frank Madla/ P.O. Box 12068/ Austin TX 78711.
512-463-0119.
State Sen. District 28, (Northern Reeves County) Robert Duncan/ Austin
TX 78711.
State Rep. 80th District, Gary L. Walker/ P.O. Box 2910/ Austin TX
78768-2910. Phone 512-463-0678.
Giving county employees two days off for Thanksgiving and Christmas -
and closing the courthouse for business - is stretching it. But when
they take off three days, closing the courthouse to business for five
days in a row, that is completely out of bounds.
During the two weekdays - and workdays for most - immediately after
Christmas, we noticed numerous people going to the locked door of the
courthouse. And two of those visitors were from out of town, doing
research on their family history.
Courthouses and their employees are there to serve the people. Let your
county judge and commissioners know you expect them to do just that and
stop playing petty politics.
After decades of painstaking research and billions of dollars provided
by taxpayers and charitable giving, scientists now are making rapid
breakthroughs, discovering the role of defective genes in some cancers
and external causes, such as smoking, in others. Many of those advances
took place here in Houston at the Texas Medical Center.
Doctors have also made great progress in the early detection of the
disease and in devising effective treatments. Used in combination,
surgery, radiation and powerful medicines give many cancer patients a
good chance to make a full recovery.
Cancer is a label given to many different diseases, which have
different causes and thus will require different cures. There's unlikely
to be a silver bullet that can rid cancer in all humans, but the work
done in the last 25 years is beginning to pay off.
-- Houston Chronicle
Return to Top
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall
not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or
redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP
Materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for
personal and non-commercial use. The AP will not be held liable for
any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the
transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages
arising from any of the foregoing.
_
Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@bitstreet.com
Return to Home Page