El Paso Times from El Paso, Texas • 10

-11 upinion El Paso Times Saturday, July 12, 1997 EDfTORIAL PAGE EtXTOR JOHN LAIRD, 546f0 Dtonido "Don" Florts, Editor and Publisher Andy AMerette, Managing editor A Gannett newspaper Founded in 1881 LETTERS Bias showing Your libera bias is showing! The July 7 editorial on federal tax cuts is a typical liberal response. Punish those who earn more and lower everyone to a common denominator. Is that I totally agree with Sen. Phil Gramm, if one doesn't pay taxes, why EDITORIAL BOARD John Laird, Editorial page editor Guadalupe Sirva, Assistant editorial page editor Amy Ptniak, Editorial writer Jesus Lachuga, Community representative 300 N. Campbell El Paso, Texas 79901 (800) 351-6007 should one get tax credits? 1 he only fair tax is the flat tax.

Everyone pays a flat percentage of whatever one OUR VIEWS Din -Ute spMDDgW earns, be it $25,000 or $25 million. To have one child or 10 is a choice. Why shouldn't those who elect to have no children get a tax break? Why should they pay for someone Council members will continue TV shows else's kid's education? And as for President Clinton's "education" programs, I don't think they are rational. These will lead to college graduates doing the same work that high school graduates are now doing, rades will be inflated to allow one to remain eligible for more government (read taxpayer) handouts. Bacca tatives use their TV programs for informational purposes only.

That means inviting a variety of guests, not just supporters, and opening discussions to multiple issues, without the not-so-subtle boasting and campaigning that has been noticed in the jast. Uriucr the lien resolution, ths city not the individual council members will get 4 hours of free air time and production services by Paragon to be used for information purposes only. When using that prerogative, city representatives should provide viewers with information on such current issues as taxes, the bud laureate degrees will be as this newsDarjer can icmorn valuable as the current high school diplomas. how this "comic" strip ccflW Ron Mora Northeast El Paso Gity Council made the correct decision recently in allowing city representatives to appear on Paragon Cable but under the city's banner, not as individuals. No council member can afford even the perception of conflict of interest or oviolatingthe city's ethics rules especially not wlieii City Council is tnej-egulatory body for Paragon.

Since perception is too often confused with reality, city representatives need to protect their image and that of their city. The price for ignoring such a serious concern could be severe removal from the biggest black eye couldSQ to the city inference of government Any City cSSSSEL represent Paragon fran- tIV6 WtlO chise, regulates Wantc a TV the communica- 1 19 a 1 tion organization ShOW Still and, more impor- hac tantly, is current- M9 give young people the wrong idea as to what is right or wrong. Do you suppose that Timothy McVeigh is a supporter of such readings? Evaporative is best I was amazed to read the Kay M. Hodges East El Paso article about coolinz systems. Aren't we actually fortunate to have evaporative cooling It Plan repair worTTn is cheap and environmentally clean.

Refrigeration coolers lous compared to the damage that those systems produce. There are other ways to conserve water in El Paso than exchanging evaporative coolers. The question is also: How much more energy is wasted by refrigeration coolers? I would appreciate it if you would tiy to restore El Pasoans' confidence in their evaporative coolers with a better article about cooling systems. Gertrud Konings Biologist Tech doctors tops As a relative newcomer to El Paso, I am surprised at Dr. John Tune's July 3 letter, in which he criticizes the expansion of Thomason and Texas Tech into the "private sector." His is an unusual viewpoint, since medical school physician groups are considered to be the premier providers of medical care, as well as medical education, in most areas of the "MO Copia overpass to close" reads the headline about work to be done on the interstate.

"This is a serious says the Texas Department of Transrjort.a- use freon, a chlorofluorocar-bon, which I thought was forbidden in this country because it degenerates the ozone layer. get, construction, health care and other city programs. But once a council member has announced for" re-election or higher office, he or she should stop appearing on the show. Free air time can Si Uzone holes are said to be a ber of physicians listed in The Best Doctors in Texas and America. The El Paso community should not be denied access to this fine group of physicians.

After all, they train the other doctors. O.L. Harper West El Paso Comics not funny I have ftioaned and groaned about the funnies not being funny anymore, but Sunday's offering was the last straw. Snuggling up with the kids, now grandchildren, and enjoying the Sunday funnies has been a routine in our family. In the past five months I have read the Sunday funnies in Florida Maryland, Georgia, and Washington, D.C.

El Paso came in a pathetic last as to the content and amount of comics in the Sunday funnies. July 6, for the first time, I read "Doonesbury" by Garry Trudeau. This newspaper prints stories about juvenile crime, about the failures of parents, teachers and our government. I have not seen this newspaper take any responsibility for any failure to our children, but I do not see how tion. ProDer Dlannintr and hot major cause for increases in ter inspections and main skin cancer.

July 5, the Times ly auditing OPDOItUnitV reported that melanoma West Side Rep. Jan Sumrall strikes about 40,300 to have T-one. Paragon Cable rates. Mayor Carlos Ramirez showed Americans every year and kills more than 7,000." Is this not enoueh? Do we need to tro nance ot these overpasses needed to be done in the past. The Border Highway is currently closed for work done on the Bridge of the Americas.

The interstate is closed for emergency repairs and an additional lane. I would think this work could be better scheduled to minimize the inconvenience to the tax paying public. By the way, why the sudden frenzy work on the freewavs? Could it be due to a back to old-fashioned over-cooling systems that force everybody in a building with such a system to wear country. Some obvious exam sweaters during the summer? Are you planning to push society backward with this -free advertisement for an ples would be the medical care provided bv institutions such environmentally detrimental certain court of inquiry? )T' as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Mayo, etc. Should these institutions shut their doors? Texas Tech has a large num I he argument about water conservation is ridicu- Martin Silva West El Paso easily be seen as influencing a politician to vote in favor of that organization.

Sumrall, who has a weekly half-hour program, said the issue has been overblown and politicized. The resolution only clarifies the city's acceptance of what Paragon Cable has been for years required by contract to give the city those viewing and production hours. "Rules have always existed against using those hours to appeal for votes or for enhancing political agendas," Sumrall said, adding that "the bottom line has not changed. Any city representative who wants a TV show still has the opportunity to have one." While the longtime agreement with Paragon may have been ethical in the first place, it doesn't hurt to officially declare it so. The formal agreement, at the very least, helps contribute to a good image which is key for public servants and the city they serve.

foresight in requesting an opinion of any impropriety in Paragon's offer of talk shorw programs on Channel 15 to individual council members. Some have taken advantage of those programs, such as Jan Sumrall, Presi Ortega, Barbara Perez and Luis Sarinana. But as Charlie McNabb, first assistant city attorney, said in his response to Ramirez, "If a benefit is being provided, it would be a violation of the ethics ordinance for council members to accept that benefit if it might reasonably tend to influence them in the discharging of their duties." It was McNabb who suggested that the City Council accept the programming as a benefit to the city, rather than have each council member accept the offer individually for private use. It is crucial to the principle of this agreement that city represen Blue Flame building a remarkable gift Bv Janett Sarraclno Guest columnist What is it about chancre that evokes so much contro versy? As a longtime employee of the El Paso Independent School District, I can't remember as much interest being generated in the Downtown area, school communities and the district as has been expressed over the gift of the Blue Flame building to the El Paso district. The opportunity CHEERS AND JEERS offices needed to be implemented.

The Downtown location has facilitated both needs. In order to make donations like this useful for the entire community, we need to work together in a positive way and keep an open mind during the transition. At this time, the district is busy implementing the region concept designed to revitalize our services and strengthen our commitment to the schools and communities we serve. By housing the North- east and Central regions on Boeing and the Southside and Westside regions Downtown and consolidating administrative functions at both locations, the moves will save the district and taxpayers at least $200,000 annually in leased properties we will no longer need to maintain. Even so, the main payoff will be in enabling all of us, central and region staff, to work more closely with the communities we serve by being more accessible to students, parents, employees and taxpayers.

For those who sponsor the idea that we are neglecting our schools at the expense of relocating some of our offices to the Blue Flame building, it just isn't so. I have either been a student, high school teacher, administrator or service provider to the El Paso district over the last 25 years and I can say without reservation that the priority of the district is now and always has been the personal care and educational growth of our young people. Since 1988, more than $221 million has been spent by the district to build 16 new schools (almost 1,000 classrooms) and to repair, maintain and remodel schools while responding to changes that were either self-imposed or mandated by state and federal agencies. As the second largest employer in the El Paso area and the fifth largest school district in Texas, the El Paso district is obligated to lead rather than follow. Reorganization and relocation are just part of the process to keep up with the changes we must make to meet the communi ty's changing needs.

The task is daunting and we cannot do it without support, collaboration and commitment from those we serve as well as those we employ. The gift of the Blue Flame building is truly remarkable. It is a landmark that most El Pasoans recognize and can be proud of. I find the "retro '50s" decor of the building to be unique and the Downtown area to be inspirational, closer connection to the multicultural roots of the people we grew up with, educate, employ and serve. Finally, I applaud all those involved in bringing us together even at the expense of some controversy.

It will take all of us working together the district, the community, El Paso Energy, the chambers of commerce, the media and other major corporations to make El Paso a better place to live and grow. Janett Sarracino Is the project administrator for technology and information systems in the El Paso school district could not have come at a better time for the district, school communities, Downtown businesses and taxpayers. Timing is everything. The Ii Waste El Pasoans are continuing to mind their water use as they endure scorching summers, thanks nartlv to increased Make the time: If citizen input at city budget hearings is so important, why are the hearings scheduled inconvenientlv duriner Mi ll ft Ij li $6 million donation of the' Blue Flame Building came about when the district need ed it the most and when, we as taxpayers, need relief. We had outgrown the facilities on Boeing Street long ago as well i as otner leasea locations costing taxpayers money annually.

And a recent manpower efficiency study commissioned by the board of trustees recommending decentralizing district functions into regional Apologies don't right the wrongs 7r your slick-talking grandfather was in the money-lending business and he got my grandmother to sign her house over to him. Your Daddy inherited the house and fixed it up. Then you come along anTSn a Florida room and a pool and so forth, and now youVe living in one fine hnnno awareness of conservation. The 5.6 percent decrease in water use this year surpasses the minuscule decreases of earlier this decade. El Pasoans should be commended for thinking of the future and helping conserve the desert's most precious resource.

That's just ducky: Congrat- ulations to the Northeast El Paso Rotary Club for coming up with the "Great Rio Grande Million Dollar Duck Race," a creative and fun way to raise funds for a YMCA capitalizing on a commu-nifrr-taTrdmark. $hequarter-mile event saw aboutSO.OOO rubber ducks, "adopted" by El Pasoans for $5 each, float down the Rio Grande. By all accounts, the to-be annual occasion went, well, swimmingly. Mind games: Two teams of University of Texas at El Paso students captured first-place awards in the 1997 Disney ImagiNations University Design Competition. Th.efc.theme park ride designs (a toprpipbaU machine where the ricfjare inside the ball, and a ride inside an egg through animal evolution) beat entries from four other universities.

And besides winning big, the two UTEP teams won gracefully, crediting the success to hard work from all the teammates: "We each gave 100 percent to the work," said one studepfcr the work day? City Council ought to consider public comment periods in the evening as well, as many El Pasoans cannot take time from their work schedules to attend. And for their part, El Pasoans who can make time should participate; only a few residents showed up for Thursday's police and health sessions. Tiresome situation: Tires dumped at a defunct Doniphan shredding plant pose both aesthetic and health concerns for nearby residents. Besides the tires inside the locked property, there are close to 200 strewn outside. Not only are they "ugly," as one Vinton resident pointed out, but the piles of tires are breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes, especially after the recent rains.

U.S. Rep. Joe Skeen, may not have intended harm in some recent racial comments, but he certainly showed a lack of tact. The June 29 Albuquerque Journal reported that Skeen, answering questions about the possibility of a national formal apology and reparations to blacks for slavery, as saying: "Anybody that wants to go back to Africa or ethnic groups that want to go where they came from we'll be happy to fund the fare. Intentions aside, such an off-the-cuff comment on a sensitive issue is especially unbecoming of a public official.

William Raspberry WASHINGTON The cabbie swerved as hard to the right as he could without side-swiping the car in the curb lane. Still, the oversized city bus, swinging too wide as it made a right turn toward us, managed to smash the cab's left front headlight, crumple a fender and inflict whc-knows-what hidden damage. The two drivers exchanged insurance information and we were on our way again but the cabbie was still agitated. "I apologize," I said. "What for?" the cabbie said.

"This fool nearly kills us both, and you apologize? Man, you are one strange fellow!" "Well, if I hadn't hailed you. you might have been several blocks away when that bus came careening around the corner," I explained, "so I guess I feel a little responsibility for that. Besides, as you may have noticed, the driver looks a good bit like me." "Got it," the cabbie grinned. "You're trying to get me going on that slavery thing, right?" I said that given the damage done to our people by slavery and its aftermath, a simple apology seemed the least that decent white people could do. "Even the ones who just happened to be on the bus?" the cabbie said.

apologizing to ourselves." This would be tricky, so, taking a different tack, I explained about the heritabili-ty of advantage and disadvantage. "Even people who are technically innocent are still reaping the advantages conveyed by your grandfather's enslavement," I told him. "You mean like you are reaping the advantages that come from white people taking this country from the Indians?" he asked. "You own some of that stolen property, don't you? And don bother lying; I've seen your house. You intend to apologize to Sitting Bull's grandchildren?" "Well, it does seem to me that the American people owe Native Americans and black folk an apology," I said.

"It seems to me you're determined to let white people off the hook for everything. "No," the cabbie said, "you're the one who's letting them off the hook. If the damage of slavery is as awful as I think it is, an apology is a pretty pitiful way of squaring the books. If you remember, that bus driver apologized to me. But I still took his insurance information." "Surely you're not talking reparations "Let me put it this way," the cabbie said.

"Let's say my Daddy had to start frojh scratch and, since he was discouraged about the whofe thing, he never really got himself together. As a result, I'fli hying in a dinky little plaee where the roof leaks and tBie furnace needs replacingcAad my cousin, before I brougfit him home and put him in my basement, was sleeping ina Kelvinator box. How do yau think I'm going to feel.whh you come traipsing up to. ray house talking about you're sorry?" "What would you propose7" "You could either try to help clean up the mess your grandpa made like help me fix up my place, or help mv cousin find a job. Or else you could have the decency to get out my face.

I don't need vour useless apology." "I'm sorry, I said. J'ioj Raspberry is a colummat for the Washington Post "Nobody just happened to be on the bus," I shouted, annoyed at his ignorance. "White people came here in part because this was a land of opportunity. A good deal of the opportunity available to them was opportunity denied to us. For them, this bus was special, and they knew it." "I don't know," the cabbie said.

"Maybe I'm due an apology, but it seems to me most ofthe people talking about it don't nave standing to give it. I mean, if you did something to me, then I can see you apologizing for that. But apologizing for what somebody else did is Tike you apologizing for that bus hitting me." I was ready for him'. "Think of that bus as representing the American society," I told nim. "White people need to apologize to us on behalf of the whole society." "Wouldn't that mean you and I are outside the society?" he Baid.

"Otherwise, we'd be YOUR VIEWS Phone Number 546-6420 or (800) 351-6007 to the editor, El Paso Times, P.O. Box 20, El Paso, Texas 79999 E-mall: epteditwhc.net. Letters to the editor will be edited for brevity and clarity. Limit letters to 200 words and submissions to oneper month. Provide full name, address and daytime phone number for verification.

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