July 9, 1997

ALL THINGS
CONSIDERED

Looking young can
have its downside

The magazine was the last issue of "Cosmopolitan" that I picked up at
the store recently. I found an article in there about medical
breakthroughs that are on the horizon. A couple are already available in
limited supply. Most are reportedly expected to be approved and
available within a decade or less.

There will supposedly be a drug that will work on recently-discovered
proteins to reduce body fat; another will work on the pituitary gland to
help slow the aging process.

Later in the magazine, I saw one advertisement for a permanent hair
removal system that claims to be effective, without the pain of
electrolysis. Another ad touted sheets of some material which are
supposed to remove scars from surgery, burns and the like, even some
types of stretch marks. The hair removal system also removes cash, at
$100 a pop. The scar removal method didn't give a price, which always
raises my eyebrow.

All of this sounds like within ten years or so, if you have plenty of
money, you can look all smooth and young and trim, no matter what you've
been through.

Now, I have nothing against youth, but I'm not too sure if I'll want to
look like I'm in my twenties again once I make it to my forties. Being
young is fun, once, but ... would you like to know something?

Even if it were possible to go back in time, you couldn't pay me enough
to do it. Even if Ross Perot and Oprah Winfrey pooled their resources,
even they couldn't pay me enough.

Our nation seems obsessed with youth. Look - we can't all be young at
the same time, and getting older really isn't all that bad. Gray hair is
nature's way of giving you free highlights! Wrinkles are like a map of
personal history. What would Santa Claus look like without his laugh
lines, big belly and white hair?

Personally, I can't imagine having cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive
surgery after an accident, sure, but going under the knife to be more
attractive to someone else ... maybe, but I seriously doubt it.
Actually, I have never even had fake fingernails. I have a hard enough
time typing as it is.

I can just imagine having some surgery or taking some pills and looking
like I'm in my 20s again a decade from now. Then, I imagine getting hit
on by some 20-something young man and cringe. My husband told me last
night that he likes me just fine the way I am, and that's the way I
think I'll stay.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Cara Alligood is an Enterprise writer and advertising administrator.

GUEST COMMENTARY

Dump could turn area to Waste Texas

The proposed nuclear dump in Sierra Blanca (90 miles east of El Paso)
is next door to a 90,000 acre ranch where three train loads of New York
City sewage sludge are dumped every week. At least radioactive waste
doesn't stink. The recent legislature did consider a dump-killing
measure to eliminate the notoriously incompetent Texas Low-Level
Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority (they're famous for low-level
science). Despite the opposition of seven cities, 11 counties and two
Mexican states, the legislature approved $6 million to continue
licensing hearings for the dump.

It seems like every time the legislature meets, West Texas gets stuck
with another dump. I think we would fare better if they changed the law
that requires the legislature to meet for 140 days every 2 years to
meeting for 2 days every 140 years.

State representative Norma Chavez (D-EI Paso) did make a valiant though
unsuccessful effort to stop the dump by introducing a bill to prohibit a
nuclear dump within 60 miles of the Mexican border (the dump site is 16
miles from the border). A Mexican politician asked me once why no dumps
are ever proposed on the Canadian border where the population is
predominantly white.

Many West Texans traveled to Austin to testify for Rep. Chavez's bill,
including El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez and Presidio County
Judge Jake Brisbin. The hearing on the bill was held in the pathetic
Environmental Regulation Committee better known for gutting regulations.

The committee's attitude towards dump opponents became evident when
Rep. Robert Talton (R-Pasadena) rudely accused El Pasoan Bob Geyer of
lying when he correctly disputed Rep. Talton's claim that mostly medical
waste would be dumped in Sierra Blanca. Six hundred miles is a long way
to travel just to get insulted.

Our pro-dump governor George W. Bush could win a lot of points in West
Texas by telling his yes men at the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission (TNRCC) to rule that building a nuclear waste dump in the
worst earthquake zone in the state is foolhardy. If this happened, the
TNRCC could greatly improve its miserabte track record.

Gov. Bush's office has been lobbying the U.S. Congress to pass a bill
that will let Maine and Vermont ship their nuclear waste to Texas. It's
time to get rid of all those bumper stickers that say "Don't mess with
Texas." If letting other states send their radioactive waste here isn't
messing with Texas, I don't know what is.

I can understand why the governor would want Maine's waste since his
ex-president father has a second home there. George Bush, Sr. certainly
doesn't want the deadly carcinogen plutonium leaking into his fishing
hole in Kennebunkport.

The state's robotic scientists say the dump won't leak, but if all six
existing nuclear waste dumps in this country have ended up leaking, it
sure seems like burying radioactive waste on top of an earthquake fault
near the Rio Grande is a disaster waiting to happen.

Many scientists now agree that it's safer to store nuclear waste above
ground where it can be monitored. If the state of Texas insists on
burying this waste in West Texas, then they should bury the first load
of waste under the state capital and governor's mansion to show us we
have nothing to fear.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Richard Boren lives in El Paso. He is coordinator of
Southwest Toxic Watch, environmental organization in El Paso, TX. He olds an M.A. degree in Industrial Technology.

YOUR VIEWS

Exxon employee reads Monahans news on net

I just wanted to drop you a note and tell you that I enjoy your
Monahans newspaper on the Internet. I was using Infoseek doing a search
on Uvalde Tx and noticed your Web site as one of the listings. I work
for Exxon and I lived in Monahans for 4 years and in Midland for 9
years.

My family and I live in San Luis Obispo California now and I'm working
on an offshore platform for Exxon (photo at right). Its been fun reading
the area news on your site and reading about some of the people we used
to know especially the girls on Monahans swim team that my teenage girls
used to swim with.

Anyway your site looks great and it loads fast. Keep up the good work.

-- Steve Wagner

Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, Publisher
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
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.

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