Newspaper Page Text
4A
♦ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2005
Y TToustmi ITuuu' |i
Stmvxmi
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President,
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans Rex Gambill
Vice President Managing Editor
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
Making A Difficult Decision
Centerville Mayor Ronnie Brand made a diffi
cult decision when he announced that he will not
seek re-election.
He obviously likes the job. He has spent 15
years as an elected official in Centerville, where
he knows the ins and outs of the growing city’s
government.
You hate to see a good public servant step down
when he is in his prime.
What has happened to Ronnie Brand during
recent months highlights the reason it is difficult
to persuade many qualified people to see positions
in city or county government.
The mayor’s job, at S4OO a month, is not suffi
cient for someone to give up his daytime job.
Brand is in the real estate business. A few times
recently he has stepped aside when the city coun
cil was considering actions on property with
which he was involved.
This has not been enough to keep him from
being criticized.
Councilman Cameron Andrews has been
Brand’s most outspoken critic. He has called for
Brand to choose between the way he makes a liv
ing and being mayor.
Ronnie Brand has made that choice.
What has happened in this instance keeps most
men and women who must earn a living from
entering the local political arena.
It also does not bode well for the future.
If retirees or people wealthy enough not to need
a job are the only ones who are available to serve
in public office it will limit the pool of talent and
deprive cities and the county of some potentially
excellent public officials.
There are some people who are willing to con
tend with unwarranted criticism and accusations
of a conflict of interest, but most aren’t.
Mayor Donald Walker has outside business
interests and has not been tarred with the stigma
of conflict of interest, but it is not easy.
We congratulate Mayor Ronnie Brand for his
years of public service. Though we see no reason
for him to step down, except the fact he does not
want to put up with criticism he feels that he does
not deserve, he obviously looks forward to the
serenity of working outside the glare of public
life.
We wish him well.
Perhaps the day will come when he sees fit to
toss his hat into the political arena again.
Competent people willing to devote their time
and talents to public office, where the pay is nom
inal, are hard to find.
Sewl ym Leneß to tte Edkor toe
TteMMKMIfIMWjMMf
P.O. Box WH) ■ Pmy Ga 31tM «
Eni tlj&evu»etM|uperu(n
Bandages work for comforters and comforted alike
My brother dared me to
tell you this story.
"I'm a grown woman," I
said. "You can't make me do
stuff the way you did when
we were little just by daring
me to do it."
Then he double-dog dared
me. OK, fine.
My mother, who lived all
her life in the South, reared
four children; two girls, two
boys. This story is about
Joe, who was born blind (not
Monkey Boy, who was aptly
named) and me, the odd
duck who waddled off to
California of All Places (not
our "Big Sister," who stayed
to look after the family.)
Joe and I were bom in the
middle, four years apart.
The first time I held him, I
poked my finger in his
mouth and he clutched it in
his fist. Then he refused to
let go - for years.
.../ i
Sharon Randall
Columnist
♦
Scripps Howard News Service
When he cried, I made up
lullabies and sang him to
sleep.
When he pushed his tricy
cle into ditches, I pulled him
out.
When he skinned his bony
knees, I bandaged them up.
And on rare occasions -
even once or twice in church
Pointing the finger of blame
Sometimes the craven
nature of politicians shocks
even my calloused heart.
They have yet to even
begin counting the dead in
the wake of Hurricane
Katrina and already some of
our best and finest in
Washington, D.C., are ready
to play the Blame Game.
I don’t know what it as
about us that we seem to
have to have someone to
blame whenever something
bad happens. In Japan they
have a tradition of those in
authority asking for forgive
ness when bad things hap
pen even if they had nothing
to do with the event. In the
United States we have to
have someone to hang out to
dry, twisting in the wind.
This time it would appear
to be Michael Brown, head
of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency. A cou
ple of congressmen have
already called for his head
and on one of the Sunday
talking head shows Tim
Russert pointedly asked
Brown whether he had sub-
Who is to blame for New Orleans?
David Vitter, a United
States Senator from
Louisiana, estimates that
the death toll from
Hurricane Katrina could
reach 10,000 people. The
reality is that a true death
toll will never be known but
10,000 dead may just
scratch the surface. Large
scale casualties in a natural
disaster such as Katrina are
unavoidable but the fact
that the world’s most
advanced nation had days to
prevent such a massive
number of deaths makes
these numbers even more
unacceptable. In the coming
weeks, politically motivated
accusations of blame will
begin flying from the Bijou
to the Beltway.
New Orleans Mayor Ray
Nagin, Louisiana Gov.
Kathleen Blanco and
President Bush will be the
prime targets of these
attacks. I suspect that those
with a vested interest in
attacking the president,
everyone from anti-war
activists to Hilary Clinton,
will attempt to place the
blame on his shoulders.
Unlike Nagin and Blanco,
the president has admitted
that he should share in the
accountability for the poor
response to Katrina. Last
week, President Bush readi
ly admitted the actions of
the federal government
were “not acceptable.”
Bush’s primary failure
was that he did not force
Gov. Blanco to request fed
eral help sooner. Bush was
powerless to federalize the
situation and Blanco failed
to request help until Aug.
26. Given the track records
of incompetence of both
Blanco and Nagin, the
administration should have
publicly demanded that
Blanco authorize help prior
to the 26th.
- I told him stories that
made him laugh so hard he
wet his pants. For the
record, I always got more
trouble for it than he did.
Then he went off to board
at a school for the blind
where he learned to read
Braille and do lots of things
he didn't want me or anyone
else to do for him.
And I went off to college
and then to California. Soon
we each had our own lives.
We kept in touch by phone
and I visited over the years,
if only, all too often, for
funerals. That's what
brought us together this
week. I came home to these
rolling, blue mountains to
be with my brother as he
buried his wife.
Big Sister and Monkey
Boy were there, too, along
with our stepfather and the
rest of our family, cousins
Timothy Graham
Staff Writer
tgraham@evansnewspapers.com
mitted his resignation yet.
The questions is whether
or not the government could
have done a better job
responding to the disaster.
Just how quickly can you
bring in supplies of food and
water into, a devastated area
when there are no roads? We
don’t know because nothing
like this has ever happened
to the United States.
People are blaming
President Bush because
money allegedly designated
William John Hagan
Columnist
William_Hagan@excite.com
The reality is that Bush
was powerless to even order
an evacuation of the city. As
of Sunday the 28th, neither
Blanco nor Nagin had
ordered people to leave the
city. President Bush was
forced to request this action
after the mayor and gover
nor failed to act. The delay
of this mandatory evacua
tion order by Nagin resulted
in the death of thousand of
poor residents. New Orleans
is a city where one does not
need a car; most of the poor
don’t own them,
so, by Sunday,
they had no way
to get out. Days
earlier Gov.
Blanco should
have confiscated
every school bus
in the state to
begin an orderly
exodus and
request that the
air force assist in
an evacuation.
Instead, she did
nothing until
Bush suggested
she take action.
As a do-nothing
governor, Blanco
bares the majori
ty of responsibili
ty; while Mayor
Nagin has simply
proven that his is
and nieces and nephews and
babies, survivors and new
comers alike. We looked
good, considering.
I love family gatherings. I
like them better if they
aren't funerals. But I want
ed some time alone with my
brother.
A few days later we went
to lunch, just the two of us,
at his favorite restaurant,
where meats are fried and
vegetables include macaroni
and pinto beans. We ate
everything on the menu. He
laughed at my stories but
did not wet his pants.
Back at his apartment, we
were making our way up the
sidewalk. With one hand,
Joe held his cane, tapping it
on the pavement. With the
other, he held my arm,
pinching little bruises. Then
somehow his foot slipped
and, like a redwood, he fell. I
to improve the levees at
New Orleans was diverted
to Homeland Security.
Looking back, that might
have been a bad call, but you
can’t judge these sorts of
things in hindsight. Bush
had no crystal ball at hand
when he had to make the
choice.
The big problem is, could
this all not have been pre
dicted and prepared for.
There is a quote from an
article from National
Geographic magazine from
2004, which is making the
Internet rounds. The open
ing of the article eerily fore
shadows the events of last
week as it talks about a hur
ricane striking near New
Orleans with the storm
surge bursting the levees
and flooding downtown New
Orleans with a massive loss
of life.
The disaster was not
unforeseeable, so if we have
to turn to someone to blame,
whom do we choose? It is
becoming far too easy lately
for us to look to Washington
far too paranoid to run a
major city. This week, rather
then worrying about those
dying throughout New
Orleans, on two occasions he
has told the press that the
Central Intelligence Agency
is trying to kill him. He told
a reporter for the Associated
Press: “If the CIA slips me
something and next week
you don’t see me, you’ll all
know what happened.” He
said this prior to telling
CNN that the “CIA might
take me out.” Clearly this
man is mentally ill and
should not be allowed to
lead New Orleans during
this period of crisis.
Now that Gov. Blanco has
given Bush the power to
deal with this disaster, it is
important that he take the
immediate action of
appointing a leader who can
manage this catastrophe
and save New Orleans.
There is only one man for
this job and, love him or
hate him, we all know who
he is: Rudy Giuliani.
According to Lt. Gen. H.
Steven Blum, “Martial law
"From the way everybody's rushing to fill up, you'd think
ha, dipped
tried to stop him. But he is
not a little boy any more.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," he said. "Help
me up. Is anybody watch
ing?"
I pulled him to his feet.
"There's a squirrel in that
tree," I said, "but I doubt
he'll tell."
I noticed red spots on the
sidewalk. Blood dripped
from his knuckles. I found
bandages and antiseptic in
his apartment.
"Does that sting?"
"No," he said. "It reminds
me of the time you locked
me out of the house and I
broke a window and cut my
wrist and you drove me to
the doctor to get stitches.
Remember?"
I was 14 and had no
license.
"I remember," I said.
"Mama fainted when she
found out."
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
and the federal government
to solve all of our problems.
Would not the construction
and maintenance of levees
to keep a city from flooding
be primarily a local and
state issue? Shouldn’t
Louisiana be responsible for
protecting its largest city
instead of dumping the
problem in the lap of the
federal government?
Just wondering.
And the question will
come up again when it
comes time to rebuild the
city. Do you want tens of bil
lions of your tax dollars to
go to rebuild a city that
could very well be washed
away again at any time? Or
would you want them to
rebuild it at a safer place a
few miles upriver? Or do you
not want it rebuilt at all?
Think about it. Don’t ever
doubt that it will be your
money that will pay for it,
because Uncle Sucker will
be the first one they ask to
do the job.
has not been declared any
where in the United States
of America. That keeps con
tinually being erroneously
reported.” If we plan to save
New Orleans, then
President Bush has a moral
responsibility to declare
martial law in the state of
Louisiana. He should then,
promptly, strip both Blanco
and Nagin of their power
and turn it over to Giuliani
as Temporary Military
Governor of Louisiana. This
would be a similar action to
the temporary roles Patton
and MacArthur played as
Military Governors of
Germany and Japan follow
ing World War 11. With the
complete powers of the state
and federal governments in
the hands of a man with a
proven track record for cri
sis management, New
Orleans can be saved and
then rebuilt.
Information for helping
those affected by Hurricane
Katrina can be found at my
blog site: http://williamjohn
hagan.blogspot.com
Joe grinned the way he
does when he thinks of ways
to get me in trouble. That's
when he dared me to tell you
that story.
Whatever. But I also want
to say this: Brothers get
hurt. They stumble and
bleed and get their hearts
broken and there is not one
thing we can do to stop it.
All we can do is be there to
help them up and bandage
their wounds and dry their
tears and let them talk and
make them laugh just a lit
tle, if we can.
That's what I tried to do
for my brother. I don't know
if it helped him. But it
helped me.
Sharon Randall is the
author of "Birdbaths and
Paper Cranes." She can be
reached at P.O. Box 931,
Pacific Grove, CA 93950, or
at randallbay@earthlink
.net.)