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Van Horn Advocate
"He has sold $10 worth of hay to the acre, alfalfa seed at $124 per
acre, the threshed hay at $15 per acre, and will get at least $20 per
acre for the next two cuttings, bring his total per acre to $169, and
the grand total to $28,730.
"His alfalfa seed averaged 776 3-4 pounds to the acre and he sold it
for 16 cents per pound.
There is no doubt whatever but that this Southwest Texas soil is the
natural home of alfalfa."
Immediately following the alfalfa story was this about a recent rain.
"Good General Rain Falls In this section Las Week
"One of the finest rains of the season fell in this section last
Saturday - coming down slowly nearly all day and also some more fell
during the night. The gauge at the Experimental showed a precipitation
of 1.06 inches but some who measured it in town say that it registered
fully two inches at their places.
"It was a dandy, anyway, and was the most general rain in West Texas in
many months and is reported from about El Paso to Abilene. Most of the
cisterns in Pecos were pretty well filled again.
"Reports from over this part of the state say that it will put the
ranges in fine shape, has put out lots of surface water for the stock,
and leave cattle in fine shape to go through the winter months."
I've only been in West Texas for about five months now, but I've not
seen a rain that long lasting and wide spread since I've been here. I
have the impression that it is a rare thing. Judging from this article
in 1916 it was considered nothing short of a blessing from God.
I'm sure a rain like that still brings prayers of thanks from local
farmers, as long as it's not harvest time.
Editor's Note: Rick Smith is an Enterprise writer and city editor whose column appears each Monday.
For all intents and purposes, it's a bad law and in our judgment, should
be removed from the books.
The legislation, which cleared the governor's desk under unusual
circumstances, basically prevents public access to traffic accident
reports, even if the accident involves public officials. Traffic
accident reports maintained by law enforcement agencies have always been
completely open to the public, including the news media.
News media access to these reports is in keeping with the intent and
spirit of state and federal laws on freedom of information, open records
and the public's right to know.
The new law, the brainchild of state Rep. Toby Goodman, R-Arlington,
resulted from the solon's intent to keep ambulance-chasers from tracking
down injured victims through traffic reports. Goodman specifically
targeted chiropractors and lawyers. This bill was vetoed by Gov. George
W. Bush because Bush viewed it as ``too broad and unduly restricted
access to information of legitimate interest to the general public.''
The governor's veto drew statewide support, particularly from news media
groups. This newspaper applauded the governor's veto. To exempt the
public from vital information would be wrong.
The Goodman measure, nevertheless, sneaked by everyone, including the
governor's desk, as an amendment to an unrelated bill sponsored by Sen.
Mike Moncrief, D-Fort Worth. State Sen. Gregory Luna, D-San Antonio,
offered the records-closing amendment at the 11th hour of the
legislative session. Luna's rationale: He did it as a favor to Moncrief
to curb ambulance chasing. A governor's office aide excused the slip as
failure of staff members to catch the language slipped into the Moncrief
legislation. ...
We see too many problems with this law and these concerns already have
been made known to our representatives in Austin. For starters,
reporters will have a difficult time accessing accident reports. It
smacks of an attempt to keep from the public accident report records and
information when public officials are involved. ...
Any way it's cut, it's a bad law. What the lawmakers have done is put a
cover on records that taxpayers pay for. ...
By The Associated Press
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@pecos.net
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
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