Category Archives: local news

local news

Media landscape changing all around us

No matter how you slice it, dice it, puree it — whatever — the media landscape is a-changin’.

Even here in the relatively staid Texas Panhandle, where the announcement came out today that the one-time newspaper of record for the region, the Amarillo Globe-News, no longer will print its editions here. It will outsource that task to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, another property owned by the parent company that owns both newspapers.

None of this is unique to the Panhandle. The question of the day is: What’s coming next?

I remain concerned about the deadlines for late-breaking news. The printed newspaper won’t contain news that breaks shortly after suppertime. But, hey, readers can catch up with the news on the paper’s online edition — if they subscribe to the printed newspaper.

Print journalism is trying to make the transition from its old form to something new. The Digital Age has arrived. Some papers are doing a better job of making that switch from one form of delivery to another. Others are struggling with it.

The biggest hang-up is making money on the digital edition. I’m not privy to ad sales techniques, so I cannot comment intelligently on how newspapers in general — and the Globe-News in particular — sell the online edition to advertisers.

I’ve heard some anecdotal evidence, though, that suggests the printed newspaper continues to outpace the digital version by a huge margin in terms of revenue generated.

So, good luck with the transition.

I don’t have any particular loyalty any longer to the people who run my local newspaper. I left daily print journalism under unhappy circumstances. My loyalty remains, though, with my friends who continue to work there.

I hope they’re strong and they can persevere through this trauma. Take my word for it, many of them are being traumatized by what they cannot predict will happen in the near or distant future.

 

local news

Rodeo offers hope for kids

Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch and Girls Town is a legendary institution in the Texas Panhandle.

I’ve concluded that one of the things that contributes to that legend is a two-day rodeo held each year at the ranch, which is about 34 miles northwest of Amarillo in one of the prettiest regions of the Texas Panhandle.

My wife and I took our great niece there this past weekend to watch some kids ride bucking horses, try to ride sheep, rassle some steers and — in one of the more charming events — take part in a hobby horse race.

The late Cal Farley founded the ranch in 1939. It is celebrating its 75th year helping kids who, as the ranch motto says, find a “shirttail to hang on to.” The rodeo was the 70th. The link attached to this brief post was from the 2010 rodeo.

It looks essentially the same today.

Perhaps the most interesting element of this rodeo is that the children — all student/residents at Boys Ranch — have gotten quite proficient on the back of a horse. It’s a very good bet that many of the kids, who come from troubled lives and who enroll at the ranch to get straightened out, never have seen a horse up close, let alone ridden one at a full gallop.

Yet they’re out there competing and from what we were able to witness from our seats in the nearly full arena are having a great time.

There’s something else that deserves high praise. It’s the cost of the concessions.

The rodeo’s mission is to raise money for the ranch. I’ve been to enough fundraising events to know how these things work: You go to support a worthy effort and then pay through the nose for concessions, given that you’re already there and the folks who are putting the event on know you’ll pay for overpriced food and drink.

Boys Ranch’s prices for concessions are dirt cheap, which heightens the enjoyment for those who attend.

All the concessions are donated, so every nickel spent on them goes directly to Boys Ranch and Girls Town coffers.

It is a wonderful event that is worth seeing time and again.

Good job, kids.

 

local news

This news was no surprise, but it still hurts

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Have you ever heard of a development you more or less knew was coming but were still unnerved by it when it arrived?

It happened to me today with word that the Amarillo Globe-News, where I worked for 17 years and 8 months before quitting under duress, is shutting down its presses and will be printed at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 120 miles south.

The A-J is a sister publication of the Globe-News, both of which are owned by Morris Communications out of Augusta, Ga.

Where do I begin in trying to assess what this means to what’s left of the Globe-News’s readership base?

A lengthy essay in today’s G-N by the publisher, Lester Simpson, seeks to cast this news in highly positive tones.

It’s positive, all right, if the intent is to make the G-N even more profitable than it already is. It will do so by cutting production staff, tearing out its presses and perhaps selling the material as scrap or to someone who can use the antiquated equipment. There will be cost-sharing with the A-J in trucking the papers from Lubbock to Amarillo for distribution.

What are the negatives?

Let’s start with deadlines. Simpson said the paper will continue to guarantee home delivery by 6 a.m. That means the deadlines will be set earlier in the evening, given that it will take two hours to transport the papers north on Interstate 27 for delivery. What happens, then, if news breaks at, say, 10 p.m.? It won’t be reported in the next day’s paper, given that the paper likely will have been “put to bed,” to borrow a time-honored term.

The Globe-News used to pride itself on delivering the latest news possible to its readers. That promise, it seems to me, no longer will be kept.

And what does that do to the readership base that still depends on the paper? Well, by my way of thinking, it gives those readers one less reason to subscribe. That will be revenue lost. Advertisers who buy into the paper do so with the hope of reaching more  readers, not fewer of them.

Simpson writes that the company remains committed to print journalism. It’s also seeking to enter the digital age, right along with other media companies. And what are those companies doing to compete with each other — and with other media? They’re reducing the number of days they deliver the paper to home subscribers.

Therein, I believe, lies the next step in the Globe-News’s evolution from a once-good newspaper to a still-undefined entity.

The publisher doesn’t address the next step, of course, in his essay. I wouldn’t expect him to do so.

However, that’s the trend. In my time as a Morris employee, I didn’t see much evidence of a company willing or able to resist the national media tide.

Many folks knew this day was coming. It still is a punch in the gut.

local news, national news, State news

Speed trap needs to be probed

 

That was a bit startling.

I saw the headline about a speed trap town being investigated and the thought came immediately to mind: Estelline, as in the small town just west of Childress, Texas.

I opened the link and saw that the town under investigation happens to be in Florida.

http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?id=1091190#.VAZ4vlJ0yt8

An allegation has been made that Waldo, Fla., is using speeding tickets to fatten its coffers. The city allegedly is trying to turn a profit on the backs of unsuspecting motorists.

Is this news? Really?

Maybe it is if Waldo’s city fathers and mothers can be convicted of doing what’s been alleged. Other towns all across the country have carried this reputation. I’ve always thought that nabbing motorists who don’t obey speed laws was one way the towns paid the bill. It’s a “revenue stream,” yes?

Let’s turn back to the other town, the one in Texas, that has a bit of reputation as a speed trap.

Flash back to early January 1995. I had just left Beaumont in my 1987 Honda Civic that was packed to the max with my possessions. I was driving northwest toward Amarillo to start my job at the Amarillo Globe-News. I spent the night in Fort Worth with friends — a lovely couple my wife and I have known for many years — before heading toward the High Plains.

I’ll never forget the words of advice from my friend, Tommy. “Be careful as you drive up toward Amarillo,” he said, “and be especially careful when you drive through Estelline. It’s a speed trap, man. They’ll get ya.” Tommy had spent some of his growing-up years in Amarillo, so he knows a bit about driving along U.S. 287 through the Panhandle.

He warned me. Message received.

But Estelline’s reputation remains intact.

As for Waldo, AAA — the motoring public’s watchdog organization — declares that the town is enough of a speed trap that it’s warning motorists with billboards. “AAA named the tiny town between Jacksonville and Gainesville one of only two ‘traffic traps’ nationwide and even placed an attention-getting billboard outside the limits of the town to warn drivers to slow down before entering,” according to The Associated Press.

Estelline “boasted” a similar billboard until about a year ago. Some disgruntled motorist apparently got popped by the city’s police officer — hey, the town has fewer than 200 residents — so the individual posted a billboard proclaiming the town to be a speed trap.

I’m not actually buying into the speed trap label that’s hung on Estelline all these years. I’m merely reporting what I’ve been told and what I’ve heard countless people in the Panhandle say to others when giving driving instructions between Amarillo and the Metroplex.

“Be sure to obey the speed limit signs as you approach these small towns,” the message goes, “and be really careful when you drive through Estelline.”

It’s tough having to live down an unflattering reputation.

 

 

local news

Puppy tales, Part 3

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Message received. I’ve decided to take the high road regarding our new dog’s former owners.

I’d sent out a request for advice on how to handle this situation. We took possession of a small mixed-breed dog over the weekend. His name is Toby. He’s about as sweet as sweet gets. Our great-niece informed us his former owners didn’t want him and so they had decided to let him run loose in our southwest Amarillo neighborhood hoping someone would claim him.

That’s her story and she’s sticking to it.

It angered my wife and me so much we felt compelled to tell our dog’s former owners off.

I’ve thought better of it.

Why? Perhaps the major reason is that I don’t know with whom we would be dealing.

Suppose our niece is correct and the pooch’s former owners are dimwitted enough to turn their dog loose with no regard to his safety. Would they be equally dimwitted to shoot someone who confronts them in front of their house? I decided I didn’t want to take the chance. This is Texas, the place where people supposedly love their guns and are unafraid to use them … correct?

As some of my friends and family members advised me, we have emerged as the good guys in this little tale. Our dog is happy and safe. He’ll make a wonderful addition to the family.

Who knows? Perhaps while we’re walking him through the neighborhood we’ll encounter his former owners who might feel either a little bit of shame over doing what they did or they might feel a touch of gratitude that someone is taking good care of a dog that deserved better than to be cast aside.

Whatever. This matter is resolved happily. Toby has a new home.

 

 

 

local news

Water level on the rise at Meredith

Steve Kersh, the chief meteorologist for ProNews 7 in Amarillo, sent out this interesting tweet this morning: “Despite resumed pumping of the lake, Meredith continues rising! Others, unfortunately dropping.”

Who knew?

Lake Meredith’s levels have been rising fairly steadily over the past several months.

It had dropped to around 26 feet, down almost 75 percent from its historic high of 103 feet back in the early 1970s. It’s now at nearly 44 feet.

The rise in the lake levels has prompted the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority to resume pumping water from the lake for the 11 communities served by the water-control agency. That includes Amarillo and Lubbock.

The other lakes mentioned by Kersh are lakes Ute, Greenbelt and Mackenzie. Their levels are falling.

OK, so what’s in store?

CRMWA says it wants to protect the Ogallala Aquifer groundwater levels. Pumping surface water from Lake Meredith helps conserve aquifer supplies, says CRMWA.

I get all that. Still, it’s a Catch-22 situation. Saving one water level and the expense of the other — and you can flip that strategy on its ear — still means we’re depleting water from one important source. It matters little which one gets drained first.

Since I’m not the water expert, I am reluctant to second-guess those who know more about this subject than I do.

It well might be that preserving the aquifer is in the better long-term interests of the region, given that when the Ogallala runs dry, then it’s dry for a very long time — as in forever.

OK, folks. In the meantime, let’s keep praying for more rain.

 

local news, political news, State news

They're moving the Texas political 'center' line

 

I concur totally with Paul Burka’s assessment of the Texas political landscape.

There ain’t any Texas Republican politicians who can be described as “left of center” by any stretch of the imagination.

Burka’s comment comes on the heels of a Forbes magazine piece that describes Texas House Speaker Joe Straus as a lefty.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/left-center-speaker

As Burka writes: “This commentary has all the earmarks of a Michael Quinn Sullivan put-up job.”

And who is Michael Quinn Sullivan? He’s an ultra-right wing political strategist who’s earned the scorn of many mainstream politicians, namely Republicans. One of them is state Sen. Kel Seliger of Amarillo, who barely defeated a Sullivan-backed stalking horse — ex-Midland Mayor Mike Canon — in this spring’s GOP primary for Seliger’s Senate seat.

Suffice to say that Seliger cannot stand Sullivan.

Back to the article in question and the description of Straus as a “left-of-center speaker.”

It ain’t so.

I’m inclined to go along with one of the comments attached at the bottom of Burka’s blog post for Texas Monthly. “I guess it all depends on how you define ‘center,'” the comment starts out.

Indeed, the Texas GOP has been moving the center line farther to the right with each election cycle. I’m not at all sure where the center really is these days. It’s not the center that I used to define it, which is that a Republican could be a strict conservative on social issues but more moderate on fiscal matters … or vice versa.

These days, the “perfect Texas Republican” appears to be a fiery conservative on every single issue under the sun.

As Burka notes: “Straus actually wants to move the state forward economically by building roads and badly needed water projects.”

If that makes Straus a flaming lefty, well, you go for it, Mr. Speaker.

 

 

 

local news

Good bye and good riddance to old eatery

There’s a certain symbolic value in watching what’s taking place at the site of a restaurant that used to do business on the north side of Interstate 40 just east of Western Street in Amarillo.

The building is being torn down. As of this morning it was sitting in a pile of rubble. I reckon the heap will be hauled off soon.

It used to be home to a place called Sava. It was an Italian joint. I never ate there. The owner closed the place this past year.

His closing of it, though, drew a lot of attention.

You see, he posted this snarky-in-the-extreme note on the door. I cannot recall the details of the note, but I do recall that he denigrated Amarillo’s eating habits while saying good bye to the community. He made some smart-alecky comments about how the folks in Lubbock likely know better about the fine cuisine that had been served at the place.

Then he threw in a crude sexual quip that, for the life of me, I couldn’t recall why he even said such a thing — other than to get his jollies off with what he thought was a clever joke.

Well, it wasn’t.

Sava is history. A chain restaurant is going to be built there. McAlester’s is a barbecue joint. Imagine that: BBQ in Amarillo, Texas. Whatever, the company has an eatery already in Amarillo, so this will be its second restaurant here.

I normally wouldn’t even bother to comment on the demolition of the old site, except that the owner of the former eatery had the terribly bad taste to say good bye to Amarillo in such a crude manner.

See you in the next life, Sava owner — whoever you are.

 

local news, State news

New county judge's plate will be heaping

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Nancy Tanner isn’t shying away from the huge tasks awaiting her when she becomes Potter County’s next judge.

It’s not exactly a done deal just yet, although it’s virtually so. Tanner won the Republican Party primary in March. No Democrat is on the ballot. Still, she has to go through the motions of an election in November. It’s safe to assume she’ll be elected in the fall, then she gets set to take the gavel from her former mentor and friend, Arthur Ware, who fired Tanner from her job as his administrative assistant in 2013 for reasons no one yet really knows — officially.

Job One for the new judge?

It appears that the Courts Building needs replacing. Not repair. Or refurbishing. It needs to be knocked down.

No one in county government — at least those with whom I’ve spoken — likes working in the structure that Ware calls without a hint of affection the “Grain Elevator.”

It was completed in 1985, which means that it has fallen apart in less than 30 years. Compare that with the Santa Fe Building, which houses several county offices. That Santa Fe was built in 1930 and as a friend who works for the county told me this morning, he toured the then-vacant structure right after the county bought it in 1995 — before the county lifted a finger to fix it up — and said “We could move right now!”

I should add that the county paid a grand total of $400,000 for the 11-story office building.

How’s the county going to pay for a new Courts Building? Tanner told the Rotary Club of Amarillo this past week she believes certificates of obligation are an option. The county has a relatively light debt load, she said.

Now the big question: How much would a new building cost? My spies at the county tell me they’ve heard estimates that hover around the $150 million mark. Would the county issue that COs to cover the entire cost? Tanner didn’t say.

The building is a piece of crap. Everyone seems to agree on that fundamental point.

It needs to go. Finding a suitable strategy to replace will keep the new county judge up late at night.

Welcome back to public service, Judge Tanner.

 

 

local news, Uncategorized

JP candidate has a record of his own

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There’s been a lot of talk lately about Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg’s fitness for her job, given that she was convicted of drunk driving — the kind of crime she prosecutes others for committing.

Is the Democrat fit to hold her job? I don’t think so, but she’s on the job until the end of the year. Then she’s out.

Now comes word much closer to home that a Republican candidate for Precinct 2 justice of the peace in Potter County has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assault of a family member.

Rich Herman is running against Democratic incumbent JP Nancy Bosquez. Should he be elected? For the same reason Lehmberg shouldn’t still be DA down in Travis County, the answer is no.

http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?id=1087238#.U_lS6FJ0yt8

Herman says he pleaded guilty to save his family further trauma. He’d been charged initially with a felony, but agreed to the plea deal after it was reduced to a misdemeanor charge.

A misdemeanor conviction doesn’t disqualify someone from seeking public office in Texas. It surely ought to matter, though, whether to elect someone with a criminal record to a judicial position.

I live in Randall County, so I won’t have a say in who will serve as Potter County Precinct 2 justice of the peace. So, accept this view from the proverbial Peanut Gallery: Better to have someone adjudicating cases who doesn’t have such a blemish on his record.