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Write your officialsSTaTeGov. Rick PerryPO Box 12428austin, tX 78711512-463-2000http://governor.state.tx.us/
State Rep. John OttoP.O. Box 2910austin, tX 78768-2910512- 463-0570Fax: 512-463-0315district Office:P.O. Box 965dayton, tX 77535(936) 258-8135Fax (936) 258-7190
State Sen. Charles SchwertnerP.O. Box 12068Capitol Stationaustin, texas 78711(512) 463-0105(512) 463-5713 (fax)
NaTiONalPresident Barack Obamathe White House1600 Pennsylvania ave., nWWashington, d.C. 20500202-456-1111http://www.whitehouse.gov
U.S. Sen. John CornynUnited States SenateWashington, d.C. 20510-4305202-224-2934http://www.cornyn.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Ted CruzRoom B40Bdirksen Senate Office BuildingWashington, d.C. 20510202-224-5922http://cruz.senate.gov
U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady301 Cannon BuildingWashington, d.C. 20515202-225-4901Huntsville office: (936) 439-9532www.house.gov/brady
tHe Huntsville itemEstablished 1850
The Huntsville Item1409 10th St., PO Box 539
Huntsville, TX 77342Telephone: (936) 295-5407
Circulation Department: (936) 295-4911News e-mail: [email protected]
Advertising e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]
tHe Huntsville item, estab. 1850
Home Delivery by Carrier Year.......................$132 Six Months ..........$70.50 Three Months.......$35.25 One Month ..........$11.75
Second Class Mail in-state: Year.......................$174 Six Months ..............$87
Second Class Mail out-of-state: Year ........................$198 Six Months................$99
Carriers are independent contractors and are not employees of The Huntsville Item. We will not beresponsible for advance payments made to carriers. Subscribers may pay by mail to The HuntsvilleItem, PO Box 539, Huntsville, TX 77342. Carrier will receive credit for delivery of your newspaper.
©2011. The Huntsville Item is published mornings seven days a weekat 1409 10th St., Huntsville, TX 77342, by The Huntsville Item. USPS254-580. Second class postage paid at Huntsville, TX 77340. POST-MASTER: Send address changes to The Huntsville Item, PO Box 539,Huntsville, TX 77342.
Subscription rates:
Rita Haldeman
Publisher
Tom Waddill
Editor
Bill Hamilton
Business manager
Polly Johnson
Circulation director
Cecil Poe
Production director
the Huntsville item encouragessubmissions to our Opinion Page. Wewelcome diverse and varied opinions.However, unless explicitly noted, noopinion expressed on this page reflectsthe editorial position of the Huntsvilleitem.
Letters will be published unless theycontain content deemed inappropriateor in poor taste. Contributors are limit-ed to one letter per person per month.
We reserve the right to edit lettersfor length and language and to rejectletters that:
• are confusing or unclear.• contain crude, incendiary or uncivil
language.• promote commercial offerings or
personal correspondence.• do not identify the writer or employ
a pseudonym.• address a third party or are mass
mailed. We encourage letters that address
current events and issues, and we askthat you refer to the headline and publi-cation date of the story or the letter thatcaused you to write.
all letters must be signed andinclude the writer’s address and tele-phone number for verification.Questions should be directed to thenewsroom at [email protected].
Email your letters to us [email protected]. includeyour letter in the body of the email.
The ITem’s VIew
Opiniont H E H U n t S v i L L E i t E m S U n d ay, a U g U S t 2 4 , 2 0 1 4 / 4 a
By BoB orkand
Huntsville item Columnist
“Sarah, dear, time to get out of bed,”Mr. Hartwell said, poking his headthrough the bedroom doorway. ...
“You don’t want to miss the first day atyour new school, do you?”
Thus begins an engrossing little story,“First Day Jitters,” published in children’sbook format, written in 2000 by JulieDanneberg and cleverly illustrated byJudy Love.
But Sarah Jane Hartwell replies, “I’mnot going,” and pulls the covers back overher head. “I don’t want to start overagain,” Sarah protests to Mr. Hartwell. “Ihate my new school,” she says, and tun-nels down to the end of her bed.
Whereupon Mr. Hartwell instructsSarah to get dressed for school, hands hera piece of toast and her lunchbox, andproceeds to drive her to the new school.On the book’s final page, the school prin-cipal, Mrs. Burton, stands before the class(apparently fourth- or fifth-graders) andsays, “Class, I would like you to meet ...your new teacher, Mrs. Sarah JaneHartwell,” catching the book’s readerstotally by surprise, resulting from thestory’s narration and clever drawingswhich concealed the fact that Sarah was amarried adult.
When the doors of Huntsville’s schoolsopen tomorrow morning to admit 6,300 orso youngsters In search of an education,among the teachers welcoming them atclassroom doors will be about 108 new-comers to Huntsville ISD. First-day jit-ters? You’d better believe it!
Some of these teachers will be experi-enced pros who have transferred in fromnearby districts, or perhaps relocated toHuntsville from elsewhere. But the vastmajority of the new Huntsville educatorswill be recent college graduates withdegrees in education, or perhaps graduatesof alternative certification programs.
For these “rookie” teachers, many ofthem in their early 20s, the first day ofschool can be a terrifying experience.
Dr. Fred Jones, in his landmark guideto successful teaching, “Tools forTeaching,” advised aspiring teachers intheir training that “If first period begins ateight o’clock in the morning, the studentswill know how good you are at classroommanagement by eight o’clock. They arevery astute.”
That’s not a typo. Jones is saying thatthe moment the new teacher opens his/hermouth on Day One of the school year, animpression is created and students haveformed their notions of how best to dealwith Sarah Jane Hartwell or whomever.
Think about it: The new teacher is verylikely on his/her very first day as an edu-cator; high school sophomores, as anexample, have been measuring and evalu-ating teachers for the past 10 years. Who’slikely to emerge victorious in the strugglefor classroom control, unless our new
teacher is on top of the situation from thevery first moment of the very first day ofclasses?
Let me share with you a wonderfulanecdote I call “the baloney sandwich,”found in Frank McCourt’s 2005 memoirabout his 30 years as a teacher, entitled“Teacher Man.” (The name FrankMcCourt is usually associated with thecontroversial former owner of the LosAngeles Dodgers, who engaged in a bitterdivorce squabble from 2009-2011 with hiswife, which resulted in a payment toJamie McCourt of $130 million for hershare of the ball club, believed to be thecostliest divorce in California history.)
No, the Frank McCourt to whom I’mreferring was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in1997 for his memoir “Angela’s Ashes,”about growing up poor in Brooklyn, N.Y.,where he was born, and Limerick, Ireland,where he was raised by his Irish parentsuntil he returned to New York when hewas 19. Drafted by the Army during theKorean War, he used his G.I. Bill eligibili-ty to enroll at New York University, grad-uating in 1957 with a degree in English.
McCourt’s first teaching assignmentwas instructing English at McKeeVocational and Technical High School inthe New York borough of Staten Island.His kids were a tough bunch, largely fromItalian-American immigrant families, withlittle interest in studying the nuances ofEnglish grammar and literature.
On Day One in McCourt’s classroom, aboy named Petey suddenly called outearly in the morning, “Anyone wan’ abaloney sandwich?” The response wassarcastic: “You kiddin’? Your mom musthate you, givin’ you sandwiches likethat,” prompting Petey to hurl his brown-paper sandwich bag at Andy, the critic.
The bag landed on the floor betweenMcCourt’s blackboard and Andy’s front-row desk as the class cheered and urgedthe two 16-year-olds to fight. (A fight atany high school, including HuntsvilleHigh School, is a wonderful way for stu-dents to take control, interrupt lessons,snap photos with their BYOT cell phones,and have something interesting to gababout at lunch or after school.)
Faced with the crisis and with fouryears of higher education at NYU behindhim, McCourt responded in his finest,most professional manner: “Hey,” he said,repeating it emphatically. “Hey.”
The kids ignored him, so he made hisfirst teacher statement: “Stop throwingsandwiches.”
The class looked startled at the newteacher’s effrontery in halting a promisinggood fight. Benny called out from the rearrows, “Hey, teach, he awredy threw thesangwidge. No use tellin’ him now don’tthrow the sangwidge. They’s the sang-widge there on the floor.”
McCourt eyeballed the brown-paperbag, from which a delicious aroma hadbegun to waft. “The bread was dark andthick, baked by an Italian mother ... bread
firm enough to hold slices of a richbaloney, layered with slices of tomato,onions and peppers, drizzled with oliveoil and charged with a tongue-dazzlingrelish.”
So what did he do? “I ate the sand-wich,” he tells us, calling it his “first actof classroom management.”
The class gawked in astonishment. “Yo,teacher,” said Petey, “that’s my sandwichyou et.” Whereupon the class respondedto Petey, “Shaddup. Can’t you see theteacher is eating?”
McCourt licked his fingers and said“Yum.” He then made a ball of the emptypaper bag and wax-paper sandwich wrap-ping and flipped it into the trash basket.The class cheered. “Yo, baby, and M-a-a-n. Look at dat. He eats the sandwich. Hehits the basket. Wow.”
Without warning, the school’s principal— who had been peering through theclassroom’s door window — summonedhis new teacher into the hallway with, “Aword, Mr. McCourt?” to chew him out(pun intended).
But by this time the kids were on theirnew teacher’s side. McCourt called it his”first experience of teacher-student soli-darity” because he accepted the princi-pal’s reprimand without fingering any ofthe actual miscreants.
The class asked McCourt about theprincipal’s lecture, “What’d he say?” towhich McCourt responded, “He said Ishouldn’t eat my lunch in the classroom atnine a.m.” “You wasn’t eatin’ no lunch.”“I know, but he saw me with the sand-wich and told me not to do it again.” Theclass concluded, “Man, that’s unfair.”
Petey said, “I’ll tell my mom you likedmy sandwich. I’ll tell her you got in a lotof trouble over her sandwich.” “All right,Petey, but don’t tell her you threw itaway.” “Naw, naw. She’d kill me. She’sfrom Sicily. They get excited over there inSicily.”
“Tell her it was the most delicioussandwich I ever had in my life, Petey.”
”OK.”For the rest of the school year,
McCourt, who passed away five years agoat 79, had the class eating out of his hand(figuratively, of course).
His approach to classroom managementmay have been highly unorthodox but hewas honest, didn’t blame anyone but him-self, and was completely straightforwardand up-front with his students.
These attributes, it seems to me, consti-tute some pretty good advice for newteachers as they muster the courage to riseearly tomorrow morning to greet studentsat their classroom doors on Day One ofthe new school year. Go Hornets!
A Lesson for new TeAchers
The Baloney Sandwich:
OKeverybody, smile. That’sgood, but we know y’allcan do better.
Let’s smile this week when we’re driv-ing around town, even though traffic ismuch heavier. Let’s smile in the grocerystores, even though the aisles are crowdedand the check-out lines are long.
Let’s smile this week when we run intoyoung people who are proudly sportingtheir new and bright, orange and whiteSam Houston State stuff.
For way too long, some folks inHuntsville have looked down on the younguniversity students.
We think it’s time to look them in theeyes, say hello and welcome them toHuntsville.
“These kids coming to Huntsville,Texas, are terrified. Their parents are, too,”an SHSU professor told The Item’s editori-al board last week. “They’re just likekindergartners or elementary kids who aregoing to school for the first time. Theywon’t admit it, but they’re scared.
“We need to welcome them to theBearkat family and welcome them toHuntsville. That doesn’t cost anybody apenny. As a community we need toembrace these kids and make sure their
parents know they’re going to be OKhere.”
Like it or not, Huntsville is a collegetown, and our college, er, university, is rap-idly growing. There may be 20,000 stu-dents enrolled at SHSU this fall.
Let’s help those students feel at home inHuntsville.
Smile and say hello to the young peopleyou see in the grocery store. Shake theirhands and ask them how they’re doing. Befriendly instead of surly.
If everyone gets on board, we canchange the culture that has existed here inHuntsville for far too long.
Let’s welcome back our Bearkats for a change
Bob Orkand taught English and social studies athigh schools in Huntsville, Livingston andHouston. He also taught courses in media man-agement at the University of Houston School ofCommunication.
8-24 Page 4a Opinion_Layout 1 8/23/14 8:34 Pm Page 1
Opinion Page policy
Write your officialsSTaTeGov. Rick PerryPO Box 12428austin, TX 78711512-463-2000http://governor.state.tx.us/
State Rep. John OttoP.O. Box 2910austin, TX 78768-2910512- 463-0570Fax: 512-463-0315district Office:P.O. Box 965dayton, TX 77535(936) 258-8135Fax (936) 258-7190
State Sen. Charles SchwertnerP.O. Box 12068Capitol Stationaustin, Texas 78711(512) 463-0105(512) 463-5713 (fax)
NaTiONalPresident Barack ObamaThe White House1600 Pennsylvania ave., nWWashington, d.C. 20500202-456-1111http://www.whitehouse.gov
U.S. Sen. John CornynUnited States SenateWashington, d.C. 20510-4305202-224-2934http://www.cornyn.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruzroom B40Bdirksen Senate Office BuildingWashington, d.C. 20510202-224-5922http://cruz.senate.gov
U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady301 Cannon BuildingWashington, d.C. 20515202-225-4901Huntsville office: (936) 439-9532www.house.gov/brady
tHe HuntsVIlle ItemEstablished 1850
The Huntsville Item1409 10th St., PO Box 539
Huntsville, TX 77342Telephone: (936) 295-5407
Circulation Department: (936) 295-4911News e-mail: [email protected]
Advertising e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]
tHe HuntsVIlle Item, estab. 1850
Home Delivery by Carrier Year.......................$132 Six Months ..........$70.50 Three Months.......$35.25 One Month ..........$11.75
Second Class Mail in-state: Year.......................$174 Six Months ..............$87
Second Class Mail out-of-state: Year ........................$198 Six Months................$99
Carriers are independent contractors and are not employees of The Huntsville Item. We will not beresponsible for advance payments made to carriers. Subscribers may pay by mail to The HuntsvilleItem, PO Box 539, Huntsville, TX 77342. Carrier will receive credit for delivery of your newspaper.
©2011. The Huntsville Item is published mornings seven days a weekat 1409 10th St., Huntsville, TX 77342, by The Huntsville Item. USPS254-580. Second class postage paid at Huntsville, TX 77340. POST-MASTER: Send address changes to The Huntsville Item, PO Box 539,Huntsville, TX 77342.
Subscription rates:
Rita Haldeman
Publisher
Tom Waddill
Editor
Bill Hamilton
Business manager
Polly Johnson
Circulation director
Cecil Poe
Production director
The Huntsville item encouragessubmissions to our Opinion Page. Wewelcome diverse and varied opinions.However, unless explicitly noted, noopinion expressed on this page reflectsthe editorial position of The Huntsvilleitem.
Letters will be published unless theycontain content deemed inappropriateor in poor taste.
Letters need to be 250 words orfewer. The item reserves the right toedit letters for length and language andto reject letters that:
• are confusing or unclear.• contain crude, incendiary or uncivil
language.• promote commercial offerings or
personal correspondence.• do not identify the writer or employ
a pseudonym.• address a third party or are mass
mailed. We encourage letters that address
current events and issues, and we askthat you refer to the headline and publi-cation date of the story or the letter thatcaused you to write.
all letters must be signed andinclude the writer’s address and tele-phone number for verification.Questions should be directed to thenewsroom at [email protected].
Email your letters to us [email protected]. includeyour letter in the body of the email.
OpinionT H E H U n T S V i L L E i T E m S U n d ay, O C TO B E r 1 9 , 2 0 1 4 / 4 a
By BoB orkand
Item ColumnIst
Do you remember the old line about thedisgruntled company employee who com-plained that management “treats us likemushrooms. They keep us in the dark andfeed us B.S.”
(Oh, you worked there too?)Well, I’ve got news for you. Those
images we have of little troll-like crea-tures wearing pointy-toed boots and withelf-like caps on their heads growingmushrooms in deep, dark undergroundcaverns have been outdated for a longwhile. (I’ll concede that there may be afew East Coast mushroom farms that stilloperate underground, but they’re verymuch the exception.)
Here in Texas, just a quick 30-minutedrive north of Huntsville there’s a sprawl-ing modern mushroom-growing facilitythat’s been Texas’ largest mushroom pro-ducer for some time and early next yearwill become the nation’s second-largestgrower upon completion of its expandedproduction capacity.
Yesterday in Madisonville, on a clearsunlit day, Monterey Mushrooms Inc. andits neighboring community celebrated the13th annual Texas Mushroom Festival,with well over 200 vendors displayingtheir wares in a street bazaar around theMadison County Courthouse’s downtownsquare.
Ever since 2005, when the TexasLegislature recognized Madisonville as“The Mushroom Capital of Texas,” thecommunity has been proud of that desig-nation and celebrates accordingly.
After all, Monterey Mushrooms is thecity’s largest private-sector employer with650 workers and is currently seekingabout 50 more as its plant expansion pro-ceeds on schedule. Haven’t you seen thoserecent Help Wanted ads from MontereyMushrooms here in The Item, searchingfor a maintenance manager, basic mainte-nance electrician, purchasing clerk andaccounting clerk, among others?
Mushroom growing arrived inMadisonville in 1974, a 40th anniversaryoccasion recently celebrated by managersand workers there. At the outset, the facili-ty was owned and operated by the RalstonPurina Co., which sold the operation inthe early 1980s to its current ownership,Monterey Mushrooms.
Headquartered in Watsonville,California, just north of Monterey Bayand the city of that name, the company isprivately held and second-generation fam-ily owned.
Leading the firm — the largest grow-er/shipper/processor of fresh mushroomsin our nation — is Shah Kazemi, the com-pany’s president and CEO, and a national-ly recognized authority on mushroomgrowing and marketing.
From its inception in 1971 as a singlefarm operation in California, MontereyMushrooms has expanded to 10 coast-to-coast mushroom-growing facilities, ofwhich the Madisonville operation is a keycomponent.
David Nesselrode, general plant manag-er at Madisonville, told The MadisonvilleMeteor earlier this month that his facilityis set to become the second-largest in thenation when its expanded facilitiesbecome operational in January.
The Meteor — Madisonville’s weeklynewspaper — reported that current mush-room production of 600,000 pounds perweek will increase to 675,000 poundsweekly when two new buildings adding90,000 square feet of capacity go onstream.
In addition, a new packaging area witheight new shipping docks is scheduled toopen late in the second quarter of 2015,The Meteor reported.
Mushrooms from Madisonville — pri-marily white button but also baby bellaand portabella — are shipped mainlythroughout Texas, but also as far west asPhoenix, Nesselrode told The Meteor,adding that current plans call for convert-ing the expanded facility to 100 percentorganic.
Monterey Mushrooms maintains asmall Huntsville presence in the Bank ofAmerica building at One Financial Plazanear West Hill Mall. From there, regionalvice president Robert Hampton supervisesoperations and administration, with afocus on international shipments toMexico and elsewhere.
Hampton explained that mushroomgrowing has moved from undergroundoperations to large, modern “gymnasium-type rooms,” where high humidity andcool temperatures in the 60-degree rangecreate a climate-controlled environmentbeloved by mushrooms.
While I was teaching at HuntsvilleHigh School a few years ago, some of mystudents had mothers who worked fulltime at Monterey Mushrooms and whoworked there themselves during summervacations.
They conveyed an impression of a car-ing, supportive business operation, whichHampton confirmed. “The companyplaces a high priority on family values,”he said, noting that it offers a scholarshipprogram for children of its workers.
In addition to adding zest to many ofthe dishes Texans favor, mushrooms are alow-calorie (15 calories in a cup of raw,white mushrooms), vitamin-rich(riboflavin, niacin and several B vitamins)food, and are a good source of folic acidand antioxidants. They’re also rich in vita-min D, according to the AgricultureDepartment.
We’re inclined to think of mushroomsas a vegetable, but they’re really a fungus.And for our neighbors in Madisonville,the fungus among us provides meaningfulemployment to more than 650 people in“The Mushroom Capital of Texas,” towhom we tip our cap on this MushroomFestival weekend.
It’s time everybody — time to getinformed, get educated on the issues, thengo vote.
Early voting starts in Walker Countyearly Monday morning, and for a coupleof weeks people will be able to bubble intheir ballots and make their voices heard.Then on Nov. 4, America will hold itsmidterm election.
This is a biggie, folks. It’s big in ourbackyard as well as our great state and ourcountry.
For the first time since 2000, Texas willelect a new governor. Rick Perry’s run inthe Governor’s Mansion is over.
Today, there are two very different can-didates running for Texas’ top job. Weurge everyone to do their homework.Read up on candidates Wendy Davis andGreg Abbott. Listen to what they sayabout the issues Texas is wrestling withcurrently.
Talk to your families, friends, neighborsand coworkers about the election. Butdon’t let them decide your vote, it’s a per-
sonal and vital decision in the democraticprovess.
More importantly, understand what isimportant to you. Everyone has certainissues that are critical to their lives.Understand how the candidates willimpact that issue and decide if that isworth casting a ballot. It probably is.
Do the same with the local races. Twoat-large spots on Huntsville’s City Councilare up for vote.
Like the governor’s race, the candidatesrunning here differ greatly. All of themwant what they think is best for our city,but each of them have different opinionsabout what Huntsville’s future looks like.
They each have Facebook pages andemail addresses, so that you are able tocommunicate directly with them. If youwant to know something, ask. It’s then upto the candidate to wow you.
To get everyone up to speed on theissues locally, The Huntsville Item todayasked each of the City Council candidatesa list of questions. Read the answers in
today’s paper closely and see what youthink.
Later this week, we will have a coupleof columns from the candidates runningfor justice of the peace in Precinct 4. Thennext weekend, the four City Council can-didates will write short columns tellingour readers something about themselves,their campaigns and what they want to doif elected, or re-elected.
Here are a few websites that will helpvoters even more. Use these resources toget informed on many of the races. www.VoteTexas.gov
www.realclearpolitics.com
www.votesmart.org
www.ontheissues.org
www.ballotpedia.org
www.kendallscudder.com
www.donforhuntsville.com
www.huntsvilleenoughisenough.comWe also recommend TexasTribune.com
for news on the state races. Make up your minds, then go vote.
Time to get informed, then vote
Madisonville plant is mushrooming
The ITem’s VIew
Bob Orkand, an Elkins Lake resident, taughtEnglish and social studies at high schools inHuntsville, Livingston and Houston and alsotaught courses in media management at theUniversity of Houston School of Communication.
10-19 Page 4a Opinion_Layout 1 10/18/14 9:37 Pm Page 1
Opinion Page policy
Write your officialsSTaTeGov. Rick PerryPO Box 12428Austin, TX 78711512-463-2000http://governor.state.tx.us/
State Rep. John OttoP.O. Box 2910Austin, TX 78768-2910512- 463-0570Fax: 512-463-0315District Office:P.O. Box 965Dayton, TX 77535(936) 258-8135Fax (936) 258-7190
State Sen. Charles SchwertnerP.O. Box 12068Capitol StationAustin, Texas 78711(512) 463-0105(512) 463-5713 (fax)
NaTiONalPresident Barack ObamaThe White House1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NWWashington, D.C. 20500202-456-1111http://www.whitehouse.gov
U.S. Sen. John CornynUnited States SenateWashington, D.C. 20510-4305202-224-2934http://www.cornyn.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Ted CruzRoom B40BDirksen Senate Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20510202-224-5922http://cruz.senate.gov
U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady301 Cannon BuildingWashington, D.C. 20515202-225-4901Huntsville office: (936) 439-9532www.house.gov/brady
tHe HuntsVIlle ItemEstablished 1850
The Huntsville Item1409 10th St., PO Box 539
Huntsville, TX 77342Telephone: (936) 295-5407
Circulation Department: (936) 295-4911News e-mail: [email protected]
Advertising e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]
tHe HuntsVIlle Item, estab. 1850
Home Delivery by Carrier Year.......................$132 Six Months ..........$70.50 Three Months.......$35.25 One Month ..........$11.75
Second Class Mail in-state: Year.......................$174 Six Months ..............$87
Second Class Mail out-of-state: Year ........................$198 Six Months................$99
Carriers are independent contractors and are not employees of The Huntsville Item. We will not beresponsible for advance payments made to carriers. Subscribers may pay by mail to The HuntsvilleItem, PO Box 539, Huntsville, TX 77342. Carrier will receive credit for delivery of your newspaper.
©2011. The Huntsville Item is published mornings seven days a weekat 1409 10th St., Huntsville, TX 77342, by The Huntsville Item. USPS254-580. Second class postage paid at Huntsville, TX 77340. POST-MASTER: Send address changes to The Huntsville Item, PO Box 539,Huntsville, TX 77342.
Subscription rates:
Rita Haldeman
Publisher [email protected]
Tom Waddill
[email protected]@itemonline.com
Bill Hamilton
Business [email protected]
Polly Johnson
Circulation Director [email protected]
Cecil Poe
Production Director [email protected]
The Huntsville Item encouragessubmissions to our Opinion Page. Wewelcome diverse and varied opinions.However, unless explicitly noted, noopinion expressed on this page reflectsthe editorial position of The HuntsvilleItem. Letters will be published unless theycontain content deemed inappropriateor in poor taste. Letters need to be 250 words orfewer. The Item reserves the right toedit letters for length and language andto reject letters that:
• are confusing or unclear.• contain crude, incendiary or uncivil
language.• promote commercial offerings or
personal correspondence.• do not identify the writer or employ
a pseudonym.• address a third party or are mass
mailed. We encourage letters that addresscurrent events and issues, and we askthat you refer to the headline and publi-cation date of the story or the letter thatcaused you to write. All letters must be signed andinclude the writer’s address and tele-phone number for verification.Questions should be directed to thenewsroom at [email protected]. Email your letters to us [email protected]. Includeyour letter in the body of the email.
OpinionTHE HUNTSV ILLE I TEM SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21 , 2014 / 4A
Bob Orkand, an Elkins Lake resi-dent, taught English and social stud-ies at high schools in Huntsville,Livingston and Houston. He stillbelieves in Santa Claus.
By BoB orkand
Item ColumnIst
The Johnson family pulledinto their driveway, home safe-ly after spending four veryenjoyable days overThanksgiving at GrandmaWatson’s home in Longviewdespite the bitterly cold weath-er.
“Mommy, isn’t it nice to behome again?” said five-year-old Patsy — the talkative one— from the back seat. Seven-year-old Jimmy, who neversaid much, just grunted inagreement.
“Yes, it certainly is,” saidMrs. Johnson. “We had a won-derful time with GrandmaWatson but now it’s time tounpack our things, have a biteof dinner, take a bath, and getready to go back to schooltomorrow.”
Patsy’s eyes sparkled inanticipation of sharing withher fellow kindergartners allthat had happened overThanksgiving, including meet-ing cousins they’d never seenbefore. Jimmy (the silent one)just grunted.
Mr. Johnson began unload-ing suitcases from the car’strunk, while his wife helpedthe children unfasten theirseatbelts and went to open thefront door with keys in herhand.
As she opened the door, shescreamed. A steady flow ofwater came pouring out thedoor, soaking her Nike tennisshoes and scaring the children.
“Mommy, Mommy, what isit?” exclaimed little Patsy. AsMr. Johnson arrived at thedoor carrying two suitcases,Mrs. Johnson summed up thesituation: “The house has beenflooded! Everything’s ruined!”
Mr. Johnson couldn’tbelieve it! He set the suitcasesdown and tiptoed into the hall-way, sinking his feet in two orthree inches of water. So hetook off his shoes, rolled uphis pants legs, and entered thehouse while the family waitedoutside.
Sure enough, during thebelow-freezing cold snapwhile the Johnsons had beenout of town, the water lineleading to the kitchen sink hadburst and water was continuingto flood the kitchen floor andspill into the rest of the house.It was a disaster!
“We sure can’t stay here,”Mr. Johnson said grimly as heshut down the main water lineleading into the house. Thefamily piled back into theircar. “Honey, hand me yourcellphone,” he said to his wife,“so I can call Mr. Annunzio atthe insurance company.”
Mr. Annunzio told the fami-ly to go directly to theStaySmart motel a few milesaway, where Mr. Idokogi, themanager, would be expectingthem, with a room in readinessfor their arrival.
Mr. Idokogi turned out to bea very nice man from Nigeria,who greeted the family warm-ly, expressed concern for theiremergency, and led them to aroom with two queen-sizedbeds, one for the children andone for the grownups.Mr.Idokogi helped Mr.Johnson carry all the family’ssuitcases and clothes into theroom, telling them that theinsurance company would takecare of the bill as long as theJohnsons needed to live there.
“But Mommy,” Patsy sud-denly realized, “we haven’teaten any supper!” “Don’tworry, dear,” her mother said,“we’ll all walk next door andeat at the IHOP.”
While the hungry childrendevoured their pancakes andbacon, Mr. and Mrs. Johnsondiscussed the grim situation.“We’re probably going to beout of our house until afterChristmas,” Mr. Johnsonobserved. “And with all theeating out, I’ll probably bemaxing out our Visa andMasterCard. It doesn’t looklike a very merry Christmasthis year,” he said sadly.
The next day when the chil-dren came home from school,the Johnsons broke the badnews to Jimmy and Patsy.Patsy began to cry.” Santawon’t be able to find us! Hewon’t know where we are.He’ll have to take our presentsback to the North Pole and wewon’t get anything!”
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson didtheir best to reassure the chil-dren. “There, there,” said Mr.Johnson. ”Jimmy, I want youand Patsy to write nice notes toSanta and tell him we’re at theStaySmart motel. Then put thenotes in an envelope addressedto Santa and tomorrow on myway to work I’ll tape it to thefront door of our house.”
As December 25th drewcloser, Patsy became more andmore concerned. “Daddy, whatshould I do with the list Iwrote for Santa? You know, Iwished for Anna and Kristoffdolls from ‘Frozen.’ How willSanta know what I want?” AndJimmy, who was usually silent,chipped in, “Yeah, I asked fora new Diego bike. What’sgoing to happen now?”
The grownups tried to reas-sure the children that Santawould take care of everything,but Mr. Johnson wasn’t sosure. After all, the family’scredit cards were very close tobeing maxed out. But he wentto the discount store and pur-chased Patsy’s dolls, Jimmy’sbike, and some clothing forboth of them, even though hisVisa card was declined and hisMasterCard barely qualifiedfor the purchases.
As the children went to bedChristmas Eve, Patsy sat upwith a start. “Oh my gosh!How will Santa get into thistiny room? We don’t evenhave a chimney! And wherewill we leave Santa’s cookiesand milk?”
Mr. Johnson had alreadythought of this and had workedit out with Mr. Idokogi. Eventhough the motel managerwasn’t a Christian (he was aSunni Muslim, like many peo-ple in Nigeria), he understoodwhat the Johnson family wasgoing through. So Santa would“deliver” the children’s pres-ents to the motel lobby —where there was a decorativefireplace — and Mr. Idokogiwould ensure that his nightdesk clerk would safeguard thepresents until Jimmy and Patsydiscovered them Christmasmorning.
When the children had fall-en asleep Christmas Eve, fullof excitement and concern thatSanta wouldn’t be able to findthem, Mr. Johnson went out tohis car, where the presentswere stashed in the trunk. Tohis dismay, the trunk had beenjimmied open and the bicycle,dolls and everything else hadall been stolen.
He went back into the roomand reported the terrible newsto his wife. “Oh, my good-ness,” she exclaimed. “Whatare we going to do now afterwe call the police?”
All the stores had alreadyclosed for Christmas Eve and
— even if they had been open— the Johnsons had no moremoney to buy replacementpresents. Mr. and Mrs. Johnsonhad trouble falling asleep thatspecial night, out of concernfor the children’s heartbreakand disappointment when theyawoke Christmas morning.
It was scarcely 6 a.m. whenPatsy and Jimmy roused theirparents from a troubled sleepand urged the family to godown to the motel lobby intheir pajamas and bathrobes,which they did. There, loving-ly displayed near a worn-outartificial Christmas tree infront of the fake fireplace werePatsy’s dolls, Jimmy’s bike,some clothing, and a half-fin-ished glass of milk and crumbsfrom an Oreo cookie that hadbeen eaten during the night.
Despite the stress of beingcooped up in a motel room forthe past month, it was the chil-dren’s best Christmas ever,they decided. Carrying theirgifts back to the room, thefamily lay down on their bedsto catch up on some sleep.
Mr. Johnson couldn’t goback to sleep. He lay on hisside of the bed, hands claspedbehind his head, staring up atthe ceiling.
“What’s the problem, dear?”said his wife. “You did a won-derful job working with thepolice and recovering the chil-dren’s toys in time forChristmas!”
Mr. Johnson continued togaze at the ceiling.
“That’s just it, honey. I don’tknow how it happened, butthose aren’t the presents Ibought. I got a red bike forJimmy and this one is blue.And Patsy’s dolls are largerthan the ones I could afford.The presents are very close towhat I bought, but they’reslightly different and evenmore expensive.”
Mrs. Johnson couldn’tbelieve what she was hearing.“Well, who else knew whatwas in our trunk, except for thethieves? Who could havereplaced the children’s pres-ents?”
“I wish I knew,” he replied,still looking up at the ceiling.“I just wish I knew.”
A Christmas fable for boys and girls
The ITem’s VIew
Bearkats give fans something to believe inIt was not the ending Sam
Houston State football fans werehoping for Friday night in Fargo,North Dakota, but boy, theBearkats gave us all anotherexciting ride.
The 2014 Bearkats put togeth-er another remarkable season andthey did it in the face of adversity.After a 1-3 start, the Kats lookeddead in the water. A lot of teamswould have packed it in andlimped to the finish line.
But not this team. K.C. Keeler’s coaching staff
and all of the Bearkat playersfound a common ground and ral-lied together following a toughloss to Division II Colorado
State-Pueblo at Bowers Stadium.The new faces became familiarwith each other and somethingmagical happened.
The Bearkats became one ofthe hottest teams in the countryafter that loss. SHSU won 10 ofits last 12 games, including aneight-game winning streak on theway to winning its thirdSouthland Conference champi-onship in fours years.
The Bearkats advanced to theFCS playoffs for the fourth con-secutive year and kept rollingalong. They knocked offSoutheastern Louisiana, the co-champions of the SLC, in theopening round. That set up a road
showdown with third-seededJacksonville State, and onceagain, Sam Houston took care ofbusiness in Alabama.
The way the Kats were play-ing it looked destined they wereon a course to get another shot atNorth Dakota State, the team thattwice knocked off SHSU in thenational championship game.
All that stood in the way was aquarterfinal matchup at sixth-seeded Villinova. The Kats wereable to hold on in a thriller to earnthe program’s fourth trip to thenational semifinals in school his-tory.
The Bearkats couldn’t solveNorth Dakota State on Friday,
but then again, not very manyteams have during the Bison’scurrent run of three consecutivenational titles, with a fourth likelyon the way.
That takes nothing away fromwhat SHSU accomplished thisyear. This team continues toshow that the Bearkats are a legitnational championship con-tender.
That is something Bearkatnation has been hoping for, andnow we have it. The SamHouston State football team hasdone the university, alumni, fansand the community proud andwe thank them for it.