Tag Archives: Texas Panhandle

local news

Puppy Tales, Part 31

Toby the Puppy has an affliction that my wife and I cannot cure.

He suffers from acute cabin fever.

Unfortunately, given that he’s so fluent in English — and we sense that he is learning how to spell — we have to be very careful when we speak within earshot of our puppy.

We cannot say the word “walk.” We have to spell it out whenever we’re in his presence, which usually is, well, all the time. That’s how he is. He shadows his mother mostly; me … some of the time.

The cabin fever has become quite acute as the weather has turned nasty here in the Texas Panhandle. We can’t take him for W-A-L-Ks when it’s rainy, cold and windy. Thus, he demonstrates his fidgetiness by demanding we go outside.

How does he do that? He sends us signals only my wife and I can interpret. He stands in front of us, tail wagging, looking anxious; if we stand up, he twirls around and heads for the closet door where we hang his leash.

If only we could do something about the weather. We cannot. We keep telling him of that fact. He doesn’t seem to listen … or care.

Patience is the order of the day.

And for many days ahead.

environmental news, local news

If you don’t like the weather …

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We have this saying in the Texas Panhandle.

It goes like this: If you don’t like the weather, just wait 10 minutes. You can add whatever time frame you’d like. I prefer the 10-minute reference, because it just sounds kinda cool.

We say this to each other just to remind ourselves of how quickly the weather changes in this part of the country. Man, does it ever! In a hurry, too!

Well, the weather forecasters are telling us something really strange. The high temperature in Amarillo on Friday is going to hit 70 degrees, give or take a degree or two. Oh yes, the warm temps will be accompanied by heavy wind. Not just wind, mind you, but the nasty gale-force blow.

After that? The bottom falls out! The high Saturday will be 40ish. The low will be — gulp! — 5 degrees.

The temp will decline even more on Sunday.

So, there you have it. Late summer-like temperatures on Friday. Then comes the deep freeze on Saturday.

Oh, I almost forgot. We’re going to get our first snow of the season.

Just think: Winter doesn’t even arrive until next week.

media news, national news, political news

So much for ‘editorial autonomy’

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newspapers

I worked for four newspaper “groups” during my nearly 37 years in daily journalism. They were, in order: Newhouse Publications, Scripps League, the Hearst Corp., and Morris Communications.

They all said publicly that they didn’t “dictate” from corporate HQ’s how their individual newspapers formulated their editorial policies.

It was a bit of a challenge to explain all of that to readers and officials, but I managed.

Well, today the Morris Communications company that runs the paper where my career ended has put to rest the quaint notion of editorial “autonomy.” It has declared that all of its editorial pages today have endorsed Donald J. Trump for election to the presidency of the United States.

I haven’t yet read the Amarillo Globe-News’s “endorsement,” given that it hasn’t been posted on its online edition; I just looked this morning and couldn’t find it. Here, though, is the Florida Times-Union’s statement about the campaign. I’m guessing it’s being repeated here in West Texas:

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/2016-11-04/editorial-trump-change-agent-america-needs

The CEO of the Morris company, William Morris IV, has written what he’s called an “explanation” of the endorsement. It really is nothing of the kind. It’s actually a vapid restatement of platitudes and clichés. I don’t know Morris well, but I’ve had enough exposure to him to expect nothing more from this individual. Take a look:

http://jacksonville.com/news/2016-11-04/will-morris-explains-times-union-s-trump-endorsement

My favorite cliché is this one: “While this endorsement reflects our opinion, we want readers to know that this does not influence our news coverage. Newsrooms run independently from our editorial pages.”

Well, no s***!

I won’t delve too deeply into this statement. It’s too shallow, frankly, for any serious examination.

***

But what fascinates me about it is its timing. Today is Sunday. The election occurs on Tuesday. That gives readers of Morris papers today and Monday to comment, to respond.

Hmmm …

One of my former editors — a mentor and a friend to this day — had a name for this kind of timing. He called it a “last-minute dump.” He disallowed letters to the editor that came in too close to the end of a political campaign. His belief was that readers deserved the opportunity to respond — either positively or negatively — to what was published.

That was a policy I sought to follow during my decades practicing that craft.

The advent of early voting usually meant that newspapers would get their editorial endorsements “on the record” at the start of the early voting period. In Texas, that window opened on Oct. 24 and it closed this past Friday. The idea would be to let voters know the paper’s view on campaigns, candidates and issues prior to readers voting on them; it would give readers the chance — if they desired — to use the paper’s perspective to help them make their own decision.

Texas Panhandle — and readers of all the papers served by Morris anywhere in the country — won’t get that chance today. They’ll open their newspaper and read an editorial endorsing Trump and will have virtually no chance to comment. No chance to condemn it or praise it. No opportunity to add some context.

Oh, they’ll get online and put some social media chatter out there. A letter to the editor? Something that would be published on the printed page after being examined by the folks who run the editorial pages? Forget about it!

That, folks, is a last-minute dump.

If only Will Morris would have explained that strategy to his company’s newspaper readers.

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No, Mr. Mayor … mountains are no obstacle

royal-gorge-bridge

This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

ROYAL GORGE, Colo. — A fellow I once knew, Malcolm Clark — who at the time I knew him was mayor of Port Arthur, Texas — once took a vacation to Wyoming and Montana.

When he returned, we visited briefly and I asked him: “How did you like all that splendor?”

“It was OK,” he said, “but all those damn mountains kept getting in the way of the sunrises and sunsets.”

If you’ve been to the Texas Gulf Coast, then you know how flat it is. Thus, Mayor Clark was used to seeing the sun settle all way to the horizon.

I thought of Hizzoner when my wife and I arrived at Royal Gorge, about 45 miles southwest of Colorado Springs. The mountains in the distance loom large and majestic. They make a spectacular sight.

Did I think of them as an annoyance? Not for a second.

Our travels have taken us to some amazing places already as we’ve loaded up our fifth wheel, fueled up our pickup we’ve named Big Jake and headed out to explore this wonderful continent of ours.

Royal Gorge is just one more stop on our retirement journey.

The place truly is breathtaking: a bridge spans the chasm more than 1,000 feet above the Arkansas River.

I could get mighty used to looking at those peaks.

Sure, the sunrises and sunsets on the Texas High Plains are equally breathtaking. I’ve noted before that whoever called Montana the Big Sky Country never laid eyes on the Texas Panhandle.

But … more travels await us. More mountain peaks will entice us.

They’ll never annoy either of us the way they  seemed to annoy Malcolm Clark.

local news, national news, political news, State news

Let’s hope big early vote equals big overall vote

early-vote

Texas elections officials are beside themselves.

Early voting is setting records throughout the state, they say. In the part of the state where I live — the Panhandle — Potter County elections officials also report record turnout for the early vote.

Now, the question: Does the big early vote translate to a larger overall vote? My concern is that record-setting early vote means only that more Texans are voting early … period!

We hear similar reports around the country, where state and local elections officials are crowing about all this early-vote interest.

What in the world is driving it?

Well, I suppose it might have something to do with the news of late this past week, with FBI Director James Comey’s announcement that he might have some more information to reveal about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton’s e-mail controversy. Legal experts across the spectrum do not anticipate any penalty will come Clinton’s way. The focus now appears to be on Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her estranged dirtbag husband — Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner and his hideous sexting scandal.

Democrats want voters to cast ballots early — perhaps before they change their mind. Republicans are seizing on it, too, before more stuff comes out about their nominee, Donald J. Trump.

As for the Texas turnout, the Lone Star State generally ranks among the poorest turnout states in the country.

I thought early on that because of the two major-party candidates’ low esteem among voters that this year’s presidential election turnout might set an all-time low.

I would be delighted to be wrong about that prediction, too.

national news, political news

‘Hillary is an accomplished debater’

donald-trump-flickr-cc

This will surprise no one, but I’ll mention it anyway.

The Texas Panhandle — the unofficial Ground Zero of the state’s Republican Party — is full of voters who are going to cast their ballots for Donald J. Trump for president of the United States in just 41 days.

I know a few of them. They’re friends of mine.

One of them sought to spin their guy’s miserable debate performance last night this way: “Hillary Clinton clearly is an accomplished debater. Trump? Well, he’s not.”

So, there you have it. Clinton’s debating skills won the day over Trump.

I told my friend that the issue wasn’t just debate experience. It was, indeed, that knowledge and preparation are essential for anyone who seeks to become commander in chief, head of state and president of the greatest country on Earth.

Trump was profoundly unprepared to deal with Clinton’s knowledge. That he spun off into those ridiculous riffs about President Obama’s place of birth and his attack on a former Miss Universe only proved beyond a doubt that this guy does not have the focus, discipline and — intellectual stamina — to compete head-to-head with the former secretary of state.

The most graphic irony of the 90-minute encounter last night to my eyes and ears clearly was that the candidate whose “stamina” has been questioned by Trump and the Republicans was the one who maintained her cool and composure.

Donald Trump was the one who ran out of gas in the final 15 minutes. His incoherence was quite startling.

Did this debate change any minds among voters? Oh, probably not. As my wife noted, Trump has been saying these outrageous things all along, but those GOP primary voters keep hanging with the Republican nominee.

Trump is now blaming the microphone and the “unfair” questions posed by moderator Lester Holt of NBC News for his utterly miserable performance in front of tens of millions of Americans.

Oh, boy.

local news, national news, political news

Hey, maybe Trump will come to the Panhandle after all

trump-campaign-signals-possible-shift-on-immigration-stance-1471865686-3208

I’m beginning to harbor a bit of hope that the Texas Panhandle might get a chance after all to see Donald J. Trump before this election campaign comes to a conclusion.

How do I know that? I don’t. I just feel it.

For years I’ve lamented how we get snubbed by the major-party candidates for president. Trump, the Republican nominee, is showing that he doesn’t take sure-fire regions for granted. He’s come to Texas a couple of times already. He’s likely to win the state’s 38 electoral votes, which makes many of us wonder: What the heck is he doing here?

What’s more, Trump is showing up in states he has no prayer of winning. An example: He’s going this week to Everett, Wash., a city near Seattle. He’ll lose Washington state huge to Hillary Clinton.

Sure, he’s spending a bit of time in those battleground states.

But then he veers off into places where — by any conventional measure — he has no business visiting.

Which makes me wonder if he’s going to follow the GOP modus operandi, which is to take us Red State residents for granted.

Would I go to a Trump rally? I believe I would. It’s not that I have any particular interest in hearing what the candidate has to say. I’ve heard enough already.

No, my interest would be in looking at those who cheer his screaming mantra. I no doubt would know many of those folks personally. Many of them are friends — at the very least friendly acquaintances — of mine.

I’m telling you, this bizarre and totally unconventional campaign is no longer able to surprise me.

Donald Trump ought to stop in Amarillo on his way to a rally at Berkeley, Calif., or perhaps on his way back east to another rally in, say, Biloxi, Miss.

environmental news, local news

Back country keeps calling

canyon

This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

Four nights in one of Texas’s great natural wonders whetted my appetite for more of the same.

I was intrigued by what my wife and I saw as we took off on our morning hikes through some glorious back country in Caprock Canyons State Park, comprising more than 15,300 acres just about three miles north of Quitaque, Texas.

We chose to hike in the morning before it got too blasted hot. The temperatures were at or near 100 degrees almost every day we were camped out.

But we’d set out from a selected trail head and trudge along toward the red rock cliffs before us. They were a gorgeous site. As we got farther from the road, I was struck by the remoteness I would feel.

It was a wonderful feeling, knowing that we were “away from it all,” it only for a few days.

Caprock Canyons isn’t exactly at the end of the world. It just seemed that way for the four nights we parked our fifth wheel at the Honey Flats campsite.

We were told by Texas Parks & Wildlife rangers that bison were known to roam through that site. We didn’t see any out there. We did see several of the glorious beasts grazing in pasture just off the road that courses through the park.

What lies ahead for us as we move toward full-time retirement?

I hope more of the same. Since we live in an expansive and magnificent continent, I’m quite confident we’ll find it out there.

Perhaps by the time we have made the transition fully I will learn to accept the feeling of remoteness as the “new normal.”

environmental news, local news

Trying to make up for lost time

canyons

CAPROCK CANYONS STATE PARK, Texas — I’m kicking myself in the backside.

My wife and I moved to the Texas Panhandle more than 21 years ago. We’ve had a wonderful life here. We’ve been able to enjoy much of what the region has to offer.

Why the kick in the kiester?

It’s because it took us so damn long to get into the back country known as Caprock Canyons. I’m telling you, this is a truly gorgeous part of the world.

I’m preaching to the choir that’s already been here. For those of you haven’t yet had the opportunity, I encourage you to spend some time here, to enjoy the solitude and the splendor that the Almighty provides for you.

Of all the things Texas state government does well, I rate its care and maintenance of its state parks system to be among its greatest triumphs.

During our more than three decades living in Texas, we’ve visited a lot of state parks from the Big Thicket in East Texas to the red rocks of Palo Duro Canyon on the High Plains of West Texas … and many of the parks between them.

Caprock Canyons’ splendor takes our breath away as the sun comes up and the air is still relatively cool.

If you’ve been living in the region for a while and you haven’t seen it yet, shame on you!

I can say that because I am shaming myself for waiting so long.

political news

Getting by in a ‘hostile environment’

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obama

My friends on both sides of the political divide ask me on occasion: How do you cope with living in an area where you are part of a distinct political minority?

It’s easy. I am comfortable in my own skin.

My wife and I moved here in 1995 understanding that we were about to take up residence in what one might consider hostile territory. I knew of the Texas Panhandle’s John Birch Society heritage and of the ardently conservative politics that drove the region upon our arrival and which continues to this very day.

I knew immediately I wasn’t about to change anyone’s mind.

I trust my neighbors understood as well they weren’t about to change mine.

With all that laid out there, I remain perplexed, to say the least, at the “anger” of many Americans at the direction the country is heading.

A blog post notes that the writer of the essay is offering thanks to President Obama “on behalf of an ungrateful nation” for the job he has done for nearly eight years. Here’s the post:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/decodedc/mr-president-on-behalf-of-an-ungrateful-nation-thank-you

That’s what I’m feeling today as I watch individuals such as Donald J. Trump painting this dark and forbidding picture of the state of play these days.

Perhaps the most fascinating public opinion survey statistic out there is that so-called “right track/wrong track” question pollsters keep asking Americans. They get a 70 percent “wrong track” response.

What does that mean?

I keep wondering if it includes those who think the country hasn’t veered far enough to the left along with those who want it to lean hard in the other direction.

We keep hearing those on the right — now led by GOP presidential nominee Trump — repeating the mantra that America is hurtling along on the “wrong track.”

Let me be as clear as I can be: I don’t believe it.

I remember as clearly as everyone else where we were headed when Barack Obama took office in 2009. He decided to take some bold steps to end the economic free fall.

Spoiler alert: They worked!

Have they worked as well as everyone would want? No. Those on the fringes of the spectrum say (a) too many Americans aren’t yet earning enough money or (b) the national debt has ballooned too rapidly.

Yes, we live in a dangerous world. It’s always been a dangerous world.

I’ll continue to see this world through my own prism. It’s different than the one used by so many of my neighbors here in the Heart of Republicanism. I get it.

Just as my neighbors are comfortable in their own skin, though, I am comfortable in mine.

As the essayist writes in the blog attached to this message, thank you, Mr. President, for doing your job well.