Juneteenth Celebration today

Those who didn't come out to the Anderson County Courthouse this morning missed a good time and a reminder of from where we as a state and a nation have come. The Negro Historical Preservation Society in Palestine began its 16th annual Juneteenth Celebration on the courthouse steps with a brief opening program with thoughts from local organizers and a re-enactment of soldiers escorting the first black voters to the polls, followed by a parade from the courthouse square to Calhoun Park. It was a really nice program and a timely reminder of our history as a nation, since we recently elected our first black President.

Events continue throughout the day at Calhoun Park with food, games, activities and speakers. At 3 p.m., the Ayubu Kamau Kings and Queens will perform an exhibition of African dance and drums. Those who plan to attend are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. From the Anderson County Courthouse, drive north on Perry Street, turn right on E. Murchison Street, then left on E. Calhoun Street at The Antioch Church and follow it until it ends at the park's parking lot.

Check the Herald-Press Photo Gallery later for photos from the courthouse and parade.

What part of 'NO' doesn't Dallas understand?

Just checking the most recent Google alerts in my email and I found a link to a story online in the Dallas Morning News regarding the City of Dallas' latest attempt to lay claim to someone else's water.

Seems that the City of Dallas and the Texas Water Development Board have now filed suit with the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn the ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that gave the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service the green light to move forward with a national wildlife refuge on the Neches River along Anderson and Cherokee counties. The appeals court ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed jointly by Dallas and the TWDB in an effort to use the same area of the Neches to build Lake Fastrill to supply Dallas' projected future water needs.

I guess I would feel a little differently if Dallas had a history of water conservation. It doesn't. Why is watering a lawn and washing an SUV more important than preserving hardwood bottomland? Wasn't the State of Oklahoma recently sued by Tarrant County and Dallas for water from north of the Red River? That's apparently supposed to go to trial in December. So when they might not be able to get what they want from Oklahoma they come back - again - to East Texas? If I paid city taxes to Dallas, I'd be getting pretty upset at the legal fees accumulating over these lawsuits. They need to use what resources are already available and learn better habits, like the rest of us.

No means no, whether it comes from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals or the State of Oklahoma. Move on.

Really nice tribute to former Frankston coach

My Google alerts picked up on this letter written by Jeff Austin Jr. about former Frankston coach Vernon Harton. Austin is part of the Austin banking family from Frankston. He grew up in Frankston, graduated from the school there and remains active in the community.

The letter was posted Mon., June 8 on the sports blog on Smoaky.com. It's a wonderful tribute to a man who shaped many young lives while at the school. Kudos to David Smoak for posting it! Check it out by clicking on the word "letter" above. It's well worth your time.

Reminiscing over Saturdays and Mondays past

We've now seen the last of the Monday and Saturday Palestine Herald-Press editions. Seems strange that we won't print a paper tonight, or Friday night. I hate to see it, but at least we're still printing a paper. They won't be doing that at some locations, such as the Denver Post. On the bright side, I guess I should be able to spend Friday nights at home with my family now, or at least most weeks. It may sound strange but I felt honored to be entrusted with laying out the last Saturday front page. The Herald-Press took a chance on hiring me 19 years ago as a young sports reporter, with no daily newspaper experience and a girl in what was almost exclusively a guy's job. It meant a lot then, and I'll always have a special place in my heart for the H-P and for Palestine. I've come and gone a couple times over the years since, gotten married to a Leon County boy and started a family. The H-P has been a thread running through that fabric in one way or another since 1990, whether as an employee or a reader. So being the person "on desk," as we call doing the page layout and editing, meant a great deal. I hope our work on Mondays and Saturdays has in some way been meaningful to you, too. Thanks for being there with us, and keep coming back the remaining five days!

Top 10 percent rule

I just read the Associated Press story about the House vote to amend the "Top 10 Percent" admission rule to Texas' public colleges and universities. I have one response - hogwash! The part that really sticks in my craw is this passage:

Supporters of changing the law say it has caused a “brain drain” at UT-Austin, prompting exceptional students who fall just outside its top 10 percent parameters to go elsewhere, including out-of-state schools.

To me, this is a blatant attempt to limit the number of vals and sals from the Class A and 2A schools, and from the troubled schools around the state, who want to attend UT Austin. Seems to me an attempt to cut out the small country schools to bring in more of the kids fortunate enough to live in a large "name" school district. The kids have little control over where their parents choose to work and live. If a child worked hard enough to be named valedictorian or salutatorian, no matter where the school or how big, then why are we going to tell that student "I'm sorry, you don't look to cut it here as well as somebody from one of the large, prosperous districts."

I won't name names but I call to mind two students - one from a Class A school 13 miles from here and the other from a 2A school 23 miles from here - who either took advantage of the Top 10 rule or could have. I was blessed to have both young women in class when I taught. The Class A student should be graduating from USC with a political science type degree in an international relations field, if I remember correctly. The Class 2A student just graduated from UT-Austin in December with a Radio-Television-Film degree, and could have done computer science, as well. She's working for a PBS station now. These two were exceptional, but they were not the exception. They were the best of some very good, and highly motivated, students at both schools.

Life has plenty of tough lessons to learn. Let the kids prove in the college classroom whether they can make the grade.

Warning: Medicine cabinets may cause drowsiness

This is why you should always close the cabinet doors. Katie the Wonder Cat decided Tuesday that the bottom shelf of the medicine cabinet would be better suited for napping than anything else. Good thing the shelf was empty. Guess I'll be wiping that down today since I'm off work. Maybe she should have some coffee, since the coffee maker is right below her on the countertop. And no, the best part of waking up is NOT cat hair in your cup. Yuck.

Note: The cat did not come in contact with any open medication. She wasn't even annoyed enough by the flash photography to want to move.

UFO or science balloon??

Apparently the good folks at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility got the attention of people in New Mexico and Arizona yesterday.

News stories are floating around cyberspace about reports of an unidentified object drifting in the skies over those two states Monday.

One person in Sedona even went so far as to compare the translucent object to the "gigantic bubble from the Wizard of Oz."

Turns out it wasn't Glenda the Good Witch of the North.

The mysterious object was a 4,000-pound scientific balloon launched from a location in New Mexico on Sunday to measure gamma ray emissions.

Probably the best story appeared in the Arizona Republic, which is where the Wizard of Oz quote originated. Click here to link to that story.