Monthly Archives: January 2019

local news

You want big sky? Try this

AMARILLO, Texas — We came back to the Texas Panhandle — and got a look at this!

Let me be clear: I have talked already on this blog about how God gave the Panhandle the kind of sky that makes jaws drop. It is the Almighty’s payback for declining to give the region towering mountains and tall trees.

But I don’t care that you’ve heard it already. It bears repeating.

The sunrises and the sunsets are two of the reasons we enjoyed living here. They reminded us frequently that natural splendor isn’t contained in snowcapped peaks or endless miles of virgin forest.

Indeed, we moved to Texas in 1984 from a part of the country — the Pacific Northwest — that contains plenty of both tall mountains and tall timber.

We settled initially in the Golden Triangle along the Gulf Coast, where we were treated by thunderstorms that roared incessantly.

We ventured to the Top of Texas nearly 11 years later. Sure, we had our share of thunder and lightning. We learned early about Palo Duro and Caprock canyons. We discovered how you can lose sight of your location on that flat terrain called the Caprock when you ventured into the floors of those chasms.

That sky, though . . .

It ignited again tonight with the sunset that took my breath away. As a matter of fact, at the very moment I snapped this picture the voice on the radio made specific mention of that “gorgeous Texas Panhandle sunset.”

So, there it is. I’ve said it again. Who knows? There might be more to say the next time the day ends in such spectacular fashion.

national news

‘I Have a Dream’ took off when Dr. King ad-libbed

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Banks, schools and other government buildings closed today as the nation commemorated the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The great man’s impact on our nation during his brief life of just 39 years on Earth is well-known and thoroughly chronicled. I won’t slog through his titanic legacy of his non-violent quest for civil rights for all of humanity.

The video I have attached to this blog post is of his greatest speech, which he delivered in August 1963 in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Two astonishing aspects of that speech are worth noting today.

One is that Dr. King was 34 years of age when he electrified the nation with his remarks overlooking the Washington Mall.

Thirty-four!

The tenderness of the great man’s age is astonishing. I am trying to grasp how someone so young could keep his composure in front of such a gigantic gathering of listeners.

Now for the cool part of that speech.

The aspect of Dr. King’s remarks we all quote today was not prepared. He didn’t read them from a sheet of paper with text on it.

The “I Have a Dream” portion of the oratory was delivered extemporaneously. He ad-libbed it!

It’s been reported over the years that the late gospel singer Mahalia Jackson exhorted Dr. King from the podium by urging him to “tell them about the dream, Martin.”

So . . . he did.

The rest, as they say, is history — and what a history he wrote!

Sports news

Patriots vs. Rams: not the preferred matchup, however . . .

OK, here we go again. The New England Patriots are going to play for their umpteenth Super Bowl championship against the Los Angeles Rams.

This wasn’t the matchup I wanted. I already declared my desire to see the Kansas City Chiefs win the whole thing. They were long overdue for another trip to the Big Game; their latest Super Bowl was in 1970, when they beat — while still representing the former American Football League — the heavily favored Minnesota Vikings 23-7.

I remain a diehard American Football Conference fan, so I’ll root (more or less) for the Patriots against the Rams.

The LA Rams last played in the Super Bowl in 1980 when they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, the St. Louis Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans in 2000. So the franchise is a recent participant in the big game. So now the Rams, who have returned to La La Land, are back.

I didn’t predict the Chiefs would take it all home. It was merely my stated preference.

However, having said that, I have to declare that the AFC championship game was incredibly well played, given the utterly frigid temperatures the players endured on the field at Arrowhead Stadium.

As for the NFC game, I’ll merely say that the refs stole that game from the New Orleans Saints with that remarkably hideous non-call on pass interference.

They shoulda called the cops.

local news, Sports news

‘Little League Moms’ need to be called out

I refer to them as “Little League Moms.” Actually, the term also applies to zealous fathers who want the best for their pride and joy.

Amarillo appears to have such a Little League Mom who took it upon herself — allegedly — to tell a high school varsity coach how to do her job. The coach didn’t like it. So she quit a seriously good job as head coach of the Amarillo High School volleyball team, one of the most vaunted such programs in Texas.

I am referring, of course, to young Kori Clements, a 2006 AHS grad who took over for a legendary coach, Jan Barker, who retired at the end of the previous season.

I truly don’t know everyone’s side of this story. I only have read Clements’ resignation letter. She claims the parent of one of her athletes harassed her because the coach wasn’t playing the parent’s daughter enough. Clements argued in her resignation letter that she always seeks to put the best athletes she has on the floor. The object, of course, is to win volleyball matches.

Maybe the community will hear the other side of it, if there’s another side worth telling. I understand that the Amarillo Independent School District athletic community is all riled up over this resignation. The school district has put Clements on temporary “administrative leave,” meaning she’ll get paid even though she’s no longer coaching.

This kind of story can get ugly. I hope it doesn’t regress to the point of sheer ugliness. We’re venturing back to Amarillo this week for a brief visit. Thus, I plan to attend the AISD board meeting Tuesday night. I want to see this matter play out from a ringside seat.

If the parent in question is the person generally believed to be involved in this mess, then the individual might have some serious explaining to do, given her position in the school community.

Make no mistake about this point, too: Disputes involving adults — parents and coaches — almost always inflict their share of collateral damage.

I refer to the children. So very sad.

national news

Halfway through Trump term; just think, two more years of this!

Good ever-lovin’ grief, it seems like a lifetime or three.

Exactly two years ago, Donald John Trump Sr. took the oath of office to become the 45th president of the United States.

He swore to protect and defend the Constitution, then launched into a dark, foreboding and grim inaugural speech that contained only one memorable line: “This American carnage stops right here and right now.”

He had pledged to unify the country. He pledged to “make America great again.” How has he done at the halfway point? By my account, not well . . . at all!

You see, part of the federal government is shut down. Why? Because Donald Trump wants to build a wall along our southern border. Democrats don’t want to do that. They insist on bolstering border security through other means.

In short, the two sides are miles apart! Unity, anyone? It ain’t happening! Not by a long shot.

One of Trump’s Republican primary opponents in 2016, Jeb Bush, called it correctly: Trump would bring “chaos” to the White House. Yep, the president has delivered on that prediction.

Of course, the legions of Trump’s base of supporters say he’s doing better than just fine. They say he’s restored American primacy on the world stage. How they justify that is utterly beyond me, but they stand by that absurd notion.

He has pulled the United States out of a North American trade agreement, the deal to block Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, the Paris climate accord, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He has blustered and bullied our NATO allies, kowtowed in front of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, professed a goofy “love affair” with North Korean despot Kim Jong Un, and then denigrated our country’s intelligence network that has determined that Russia interfered with our 2016 presidential election.

Yep, but he’s winning, bigly. He says. I would laugh if I wasn’t so damn scared of what occurred when this guy took office two years ago. We’re halfway through this individual’s term.

I do hope it’ll be four years and out. Better yet would be for the president to leave beforehand. That eventuality, of course, has yet to be determined.

International news

Border Patrol: shutdown collateral damage

Talk about an unintended consequence.

Donald Trump said he would shut down the government over construction of The Wall along our southern border to increase border security.

So, part of the government shuts down. The U.S. Border Patrol continues to do its job, which is to secure the border. Except that the shutdown is depriving these valuable officers of their pay. It’s putting enormous stress on those officers.

Thus, it is — let’s see — oh, endangering national security. A stressed-out Border Patrol officer cannot do his or her job as well as someone who isn’t suffering from the pressure caused by a shutdown that deprives them of income.

How’s that security enhancement goal working out, Mr. President?

I’ve got the answer: Not worth a damn!

International news, national news

POTUS moving ball slowly toward compromise

I’ve been rolling Donald J. Trump’s latest gambit on this government shutdown nonsense around in my noggin.

Here is what I’ve come up with: The president seems to be inching ever so slowly toward compromise with congressional Democrats who do not want to build The Wall along our southern border.

I don’t want The Wall built either. Or whatever form it takes: slats, chain-link fence, steel wall, concrete. None of it sounds appealing to me as an American who hates The Wall but who supports the notion of enhancing border security.

Trump, though, has pitched an enticing notion: He is willing to grant illegal immigrants who came here as children a three-year “amnesty” that enables them to start walking down a “path to citizenship.” We call ’em Dreamers. They came here when their parents entered the nation illegally. They formerly were protected under a program called Deferred Action for Children Arrivals, or DACA. Trump rescinded that Barack Obama-issued executive order.

Now he’s budging a good bit on giving DACA recipients a break.

That is progress. It’s not enough to suit Democrats. Interestingly, the president also has pi**** off hardliners on his far right who don’t want DACA recipients to get a break, even though they did nothing wrong on their own to get here; many thousands of them have grown into adulthood knowing only life as de facto Americans. They have become productive residents of the United States. Many of them have excelled scholastically and have contributed greatly to life in the Land of Opportunity.

So . . . what now?

I would hope those on the left and the right would seek a way to understand that Trump has begun moving the ball just a little bit.

It’s an effort to end this shutdown, which has thrust 800,000 Americans into the ranks of the unpaid and unemployed. They need relief. They need to get back to work.

This shutdown, precipitated by Donald Trump’s silly boast that he would be willing to take the heat for the consequences, needs to end. If a three-year reprieve for DACA recipients can end this stalemate, then I am all in.

education news, local news

Yes, there’s another side to this coaching kerfuffle

I’m going to give credit where it’s due.

The Amarillo Globe-News has sought to put the burgeoning coaching kerfuffle at Amarillo High School into some much-needed perspective. In an editorial posted/published today, the AGN notes that we’ve only one side of the story involving the sudden resignation of Kori Clements, the head coach of the vaunted Sandies volleyball program. She resigned as coach of the one of Texas’ premier high school athletic programs after just a single season.

Read the AGN editorial here.

Clements has cited parental interference involving the playing time of one of the student-athletes under charge; the athlete is the daughter of the parent. Clements alleged in her resignation letter that the parent’s harassment was too much for her to handle and that the school district administration didn’t give her the support she believes she needs and deserves.

Has the school district responded? No. It is standing behind its policy of declining to comment on a personnel matter.

I, too, am interested in hearing the whole story. The offending parent — who allegedly is a member of the Amarillo Independent School District Board of Trustees — likely will feel the heat from constituents to explain her side of the story.

I’ll just offer this bit of perspective, admittedly from some distance: It is that Coach Clements’ assertion has exposed both the parent — and her daughter — to an embarrassing circumstance. If the coach is as highly regarded as many parents have said she is — and I have no reason to disbelieve anything I’ve heard so far — it seems impossible for me to believe she would throw out a reckless accusation without it having some basis in fact.

The AISD school board will meet Tuesday night. I am waiting for some more disclosure on what happened and hoping for a resolution that satisfies as many people as is humanly possible.

local news, Sports news

Might the coach reconsider? Hmm?

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I’m going to throw a bit of blind speculation out there for you to ponder.

Kori Clements quit her post as Amarillo High School’s girls volleyball coach this week, citing harassment and hassling from the parent of one of her athletes. Clements said the parent was angry because Clements wasn’t giving her daughter enough playing time for the vaunted Sandies’ volleyball program.

Her resignation — after just one season as coach — has ignited a serious firestorm in the Amarillo school district athletic community . . . or so I have been led to believe.

The Amarillo school board of trustees is meeting Tuesday evening. You can bet your big ol’ four-wheel-drive pickup that Clements’ sudden and shocking resignation will be on the minds of what I suspect will be a large crowd of spectators crammed into the school board meeting room.

Is it possible that Clements could get some form of public apology from the school board, perhaps even from the offending parent? Maybe from the administration, which she accused of failing to give her proper backing?

If all that comes to pass, might the young coach reconsider her resignation?

Just thinking out loud, man.

local news

Happy Trails, Part 137: The final stop . . . found!

I have been waiting for the right moment to reveal this bit of news for readers of this blog. That moment arrived today, around 1 p.m.

That was when my wife and I — in the presence of our daughter-in-law, son and granddaughter — tendered an offer on a new home that we intend to purchase.

Why is that a big deal? Here’s why.

We had intended to retire forever and ever in an apartment in Fairview, Texas, sandwiched between Allen and McKinney just north of Dallas. Then we discovered almost immediately that apartment living wasn’t in the cards. The location of the place is perfect; it is near plenty of shopping and entertainment opportunities; it is close to our granddaughter; it’s a comfortable pad that my wife has turned into a nice home for us.

We just don’t want to stay here for “the duration.”

So we began looking around for a house to purchase. We came up empty, until just this week!

We ventured Friday to Princeton, Texas, about 10 miles from our dwelling in Fairview. We found a new development. We talked to the builder’s on-site managers. We looked at some houses and we settled on one of them.

We got in touch with our daughter-in-law, who happens to be a Realtor. We sat with her, our son and little Emma to talk about crafting an offer. Our daughter-in-law/Realtor — Stephanie — came up with a figure and today she presented it to the builder on our behalf. She and the builder’s rep went back and forth for a bit.

Then we settled on a figure. Signed a whole stack of documents. The deal got done!

So, our retirement journey is taking one final turn, one more lap.

Then we’ll be done. We have found our “forever home.” It’s a modest abode, but it’s just about perfect for my wife and me, along with Toby the Puppy. It is a brand-new dwelling. We intend to be its residents for as long as is humanly possible.

This wasn’t part of our original plan. However, having made this decision, we are extremely happy with the path our retirement life has taken.

Oh, our fifth-wheel RV, the one we take on the road? It’s still there, waiting for its next journey. That’s coming up, too.

Yep, life is quite good.