Abilene Reporter-News from Abilene, Texas • A1

Thursday, August 24, 2017 reporternews.com PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK For home delivery, call 325-670-5201 $1.50 More at reporternews.com Follow us and share twitter.com/reporternews or facebook.com/reporternews How to transform your home office into a creative LIFE, 1B Thunderstorm in spots 8A chance of Tstorms cloudy rain cloudyfog, smoke, dust frost, sleet, hail mostly cloudy rain mostly cloudy partly cloudysunny TstormsWindy Mainstream debate about President mental health emerges. 4A Index Business 7C Obituaries 5A Opinion 3B 4D 4B Wylie, Abilene High volleyball teams finding their way. SPORTS, 1C Elvis trumps all. These days, people will want to read something political into that choice of verbs. But this is not fake news: If you have a connection to The King, you rock.

And roll, too. I talked last week to Chris Christian, a familiar name for years but someone I never have met. I thought and thought about a song I heard on the radio growing up and finally, the remake of Go to when the Abilene singer was a member of Cotton, Lloyd and Christian, came back to me. I heard it on the radio in 1975 when I was a high school junior. In 1981, as a solo artist, Chris cracked the Top 40 with Want You, I Need It was a Top 10 adult contemporary hit.

Chris has been a great success in many areas in his life, including landing some hits in the Top 40. But his connection to Elvis that not only is a great Abilene story but one that may bring a crowd to 609 Scott Place this weekend. After all, where he wrote a song that The King recorded in 1973 and was released on Jan. 8, 1975 why is that date special, Elvis fans? It was his 40th birthday. Song of the is Track 5.

parents now are deceased and an estate sale of the J.E. Smith home is planned. A few music items of interest will be available, including signed copies of albums. But what really is cool is that as a junior at Abi- lene High in 1968, he wrote a song titled Song of the Something he did when he play- ing basketball and being a high school kid almost ready to get on with life. A song written by a high school student in Abilene sung by The King.

Is America the land of opportuni- ty, or what? Before the story of Chris Christian Smith (and you thought he used just to score points ...) going to Nashville to seek fame and fortune, the story of his fourth-grade teacher bring- ing a musician to class one day. His teacher at Crockett Elementary was Mrs. (Helen) Patterson. One day, her son Dow visited the class. He talked to the kids about writing and per- forming songs.

One of his songs was getting some radio airplay. He was a celebrity. thought, what I want to Chris said. But, you know, just a impossible Thank you very much, Chris COURTESY OF CHRIS CHRISTIAN Chris Christian is pictured in 2015 during a tour of Sun Studios in Memphis. Elvis Presley recorded a song by Christian that appeared on his 1975 album Abilene singer has ties to The King See JAKLEWICZ, Page 3A NBC Chris Christian, right, performs as a member of Cotton, Lloyd and Christian on the TV music show GREG JAKLEWICZ AUSTIN A federal judge on Wednesday threw out contro- versial voter ID law, issuing an injunc- tion preventing the state from enforc- ing the original 2011 law and a revised version adopted earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of Corpus Christi ruled that the 2011 law, which required voters to pre- sent one of seven forms of government- issued photo IDs, was unconstitutional and places additional burdens on His- panic and African American voters. She also found that the efforts to address concerns with the original law fell short of mitigating the discriminatory and the revised law not meaningfully ex- pand the types of photo IDs that can qualify, even though the Court was clearly critical of Texas having the most restrictive list in the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling and said he would appeal the decision, which found that the law violates sections of the Voting Rights Act and the 14th and 15th amendments in the U.S. Constitu- tion. Under the 2011 law, voters were re- quired to present one of seven forms of government-issued photo IDs before they could vote.

The list included a license, a handgun license or a U.S. passport. In April, Gonzales Ramos said the law was discriminatory but that she would wait until the end of the legisla- tive session to issue a final decision, giving lawmakers a chance to make changes. The revised law allowed voters who have the required photo ID to cast ballots by showing documents that proved their name and address, includ- ing a paycheck or utility bill. Paxton said the U.S.

Department of Justice, under President Donald Trump, was satisfied with the amended voter ID law and believed it had no dis- criminatory purpose or effect. The DOJ submitted a brief in the case supporting the revised law. the integrity of elec- tions in Texas is essential to preserving our Paxton said in a state- ment. 5th Circuit should reverse the entirety of the district rul- Texas Democratic Party Chair Gil- berto Hinojosa said the decision high- lights efforts by Republicans to con- tinue our election have done everything in their power to steal right to the ballot he said in a statement. wrong, and a federal court has now confirmed a violation of the U.S.

Constitution and the Voting Rights Madlin Mekelburg is an reporter with the USA Today Austin Bureau; she may be reached at 512-479-6606; mme ek on Twitter. Paxton vows to appeal federal ruling MADLIN MEKELBURG USA TODAY NETWORK AUSTIN BUREAU Voter ID law gets slapped down The Abilene City Council agreed Tuesday night at its workshop meeting that sidewalks should be required with new developments. The council took up the item to give city staff clear direction on whether council members want to require side- walks with development proposal. This could lead to a change in the Land Development Code, which currently allows for waivers or defer- rals of building sidewalks in conjunction with new developments. Dana Schoening, planning director, said the city needed to streamline the process for sidewalk requirements be- cause right now staff has to decide whether to allow for waivers or defer- rals on an individual basis.

Since June 2010, the city approved 36 waiver requests and 30 deferral re- quests, which usually last five years, Schoening said. Five of the 30 deferrals issued since 2010 have been built, he said. Staff typically gave out deferrals based on the likelihood of future devel- opment in the area, Schoening said. But deferrals are difficult to enforce when the time comes for the developer to build the sidewalk, he said, because the agree- ments Deferral requests continue to in- crease each year, Schoening said. Councilman Kyle McAlister said he believes the waiver request process has worked but the city needs to improve its deferral request process so the agree- ments are enforceable.

All six council members and Mayor Anthony Williams saw a need for side- walks to be built with new developments. Councilman Steve Savage said side- walks should be considered a part of ba- sic infrastructure. think we do need more sidewalks, but a lot of that ought to fall on the he said, adding the city could put in side- walks as it rehabilitates and constructs roads. Councilman Bruce Kreitler said he would like to see sidewalks at creek crossings to protect safety. Six people spoke in favor of requiring sidewalks during the public hearing Abilene City Council agrees on requirement for sidewalks BROOKE CRUM ABILENE REPORTER-NEWS See SIDEWALKS, Page 2A.