I received the cafe electric bill today. It was up $300 over last month's bill. I did notice the price of gasoline in Bremond went down to $2.71.
I recently mentioned a move underway to eliminate the TAKS test in the public schools. It's demise is one step closer as the Texas State Senate voted unanimously to end it. Click for article.
John Hinckley, Jr., the man who shot President Reagan in 1981, is being considered for partial release and may end up living in Dallas. Click for article. In my opinion, Reagan proved to be one of our better presidents. Bill Clinton also had a positive presidency, although I don't know how Hillary would be. The two presidents of my lifetime I think got in over their heads (in both cases with fruitless wars) were Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush. According to the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, Harry Reid, the Iraq War is now lost. Click for article.
Ryan started his new job in Washington today. He is working for Target. Things are coming together quite well for him in the Great Northwest and he sounds happy, which makes me happy. My mother on the other hand has taken a turn for the worse. She fell last week and there appears to be a hairline fracture in the hip that she previously broke. She is currently confined to a wheelchair for a minimum of six weeks and is in a great amount of pain. The last couple of times I talked to her she sounded pretty out of it, undoubtedly due to the painkillers the doctors are giving her. The drugs they have her on are the ones I read are addictive, but on the other hand she does not need to be in continual agony. I guess the doctors feel the same way. Mother had her 84th birthday last week. Unfortunately, time slows for no one.
April 19, 2007
School will be out in six weeks and things are once again hopping in Kosse. There will be a clean-up day for the Kosse City Park on April 21. Volunteers and equipment are needed. You can show up any time that day to help get the park in pristine shape. The Friends of the Park have done wonders with this Kosse show piece and improvements are being added on a regular basis. Speaking of the park, the Kosse 4-H Club will be meeting on Monday, April 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Kosse City Park. Please bring your own chair. All are invited. This group is fresh off the heels of blowout results at the Limestone County Fair.
This month's Kosse Echo had another interesting historical article. It deals with the origins of the Kosse Heritage House and was authored by the late Mary Bradley Whatley. The Heritage House has now been a Kosse landmark for twenty-eight years. I will try to get the article on here in the next week or so. Having only recently constructed the Kosse Echo section of this website, there is so far only one reprinted article. I'm going to publish one additional article out of each issue of the Kosse Echo, so it will eventually be a substantial and most interesting part of this site. Great appreciation is given to Kosse Echo publisher Nell McKinney for allowing these articles to be reprinted.
Sanjaya Malakar was voted off "American Idol" last night. Click for article. The Virginia Tech mass murderer sent videos and photos to NBC between the time he killed his first victims and his second round of killings. Click for article. In Iraq, the number of people killed or found dead on Wednesday was 233, which equaled the highest daily death toll since The Associated Press began keeping records in May 2005. Click for article. The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed for banning partial-birth abortions. Click for article. A complex world indeed.
April 18, 2007
The inaugural annual Kosse Greyhound 5K Run will be held on June 9 at 8:00 a.m. The event will be held at the Kosse City Park. All proceeds will go to the Kosse City Park Playground Fund. Trophies will be given for all age categories. An appication form to enter the competition can be found at area businesses or downloaded at www.kossetexas.com.
The price of gasoline continues to skyrocket. Yesterday it was $2.75 per gallon at Cefco. According to the Labor Department the core inflation rate (which excludes food and energy costs) remained virtually nil. Food and energy costs represent the majority of expenses in the restaurant business and both have risen dramatically over the past few months. Click for article.
On the Kosse Blog home page is a free download of a great recipe book. You can get further information by clicking here.
April 17, 2007
The deadliest shooting massacre in U.S. history occurred at Virginia Tech University yesterday. Click for article. In a related article it is mentioned that this shooting rampage supplanted two Texas shooting massacres in an infamous statistical list. Previously, the single deadliest shooting spree occurred at the Luby's in Killeen in 1991, and the single deadliest campus shooting spree took place in 1966 at the University of Texas in Austin. Click for article. Residents of Marlin were among the victims of the Killeen shooting. Click for article. One of the results of the Luby's massacre was the passage of legislation which allows individuals to carry concealed handguns in Texas. Click for article.
April 16, 2007
The Kosse Heritage House will be hosting two meetings tonight. At 6:00 p.m. the Heritage House Society will hold its meeting. It will be followed by the Kosse Chamber of Commerce meeting at 6:30.
Vice-President Dick Cheney was the guest on "Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer" yesterday. Schieffer asked him if he thought the Bush Administration suffered from a credibility problem. Cheney answered no. I would describe this as unbelievable but it simply adds to the list of incredulous remarks Cheney has made. Click to access interview video.
I went to Elizabet Ney Elementary School with a boy named Gerd Smith. He was of German descent and Gerd was a nickname for Gerhard. I now know Gerhard is a common German name (i.e. Gerhard Schroeder, former Prime Minister of Germany), but as five year olds we all simply thought it was an unusual name. Gerd was always having strange things happen to him, and as we grew older we felt he was occasionally jinxed. One day in 1962 we five-year olds were sitting at our desks in Mrs. Samson's afternoon kindergarten class doing whatever kindergarten students in Lake Jackson did in 1962. All of a sudden a wooden beam from the ceiling gave way and fell right on top of the unsuspecting Gerd Smith. In retrospect it's a wonder Gerd was not seriously injured by the falling quadrant of 1"x 6" wooden boards, but he immediately hopped out from under the debris with no bodily damage. Needless to say Mrs. Samson almost had a heart attack. The principal and school nurse were soon dispatched to the scene of Gerd Smith's unfortunate board beaning, and my classmates and I were able to observe our teacher, principal, and nurse freaking out. We students were much calmer about the situation as we could tell Gerd was physically fine and did not appear to be any more addled than usual. Eventually things calmed down and we all went to another classroom for the remainder of the day.
April 14, 2007
The rain arrived in Kosse last night about 9:00 and is continuing as I write this early Saturday morning. Hopefully we will not see the killer weather that occurred earlier in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Click for article. Seems like our area has had an inordinate amount of tornadoes this year.
The fallout over the Don Imus situation continues. Presidential candidate Barack Obama has now denounced the racist lyrics of the rap music industry. Click for article. I never listen to rap music and if some comes on I mute the sound, but in all honesty it has nothing to do with the lyrics. The rapper could be quoting the words of the Gettysburg Address and I wouldn't listen to it. It simply doesn't sound like music to me. I'll choose Creedence Clearwater Revival over Ludicrous any day. Click to hear my idea of great music.
Turns out that it isn't a crime to pick bluebonnets in Texas. This is an inaccurate urban myth believed and repeated by most native Texans. Click for article. I will admit I am among those who thought it was indeed a crime.
April 12, 2007
An update on the Don Imus situation which has led the headlines for the past week: He was taken off MSNBC although at the moment still has his radio broadcast. Click for article.
The Groesbeck I.S.D. Superintendent has resigned. The explanation given was he desired "to explore other opportunities in education". There is also now a new Athletic Director/Head Football Coach. The former coach was reassigned to another position within the district and the Groesbeck Journal stated he will most likely look for another coaching position elsewhere. It is the policy of school boards not discuss personnel issues publicly but something must be going on within G.I.S.D.
Speaking of schools, the Houston I.S.D. (my long-ago employer) is joining the list of those wishing to dump the state-mandated TAKS tests. Click for article. The criticism of the current system is that students are taught only the things necessary for taking that particular test and are shortchanged on a more rounded education. I was out of public school teaching long before the existence of the TAKS, but the criticism is easily understood and probably accurate.
April 10, 2007
The average U.S. price of gasoline has risen 54.2-cents per gallon over the past ten weeks. Click for article. I think the price at Cefco was $2.67 yesterday. According to Business Week magazine, the 'fear premium' due to the Middle East turmoil is adding $10-$15 per barrel to the price of oil. Click for article.
Don Imus has been suspended from his radio and television show for two weeks starting Monday. (If you're not familiar with the situation, the full story can be watched or read by clicking here.) I imagine his ratings for the next three days will be astronomical. "Imus in the Morning" on MSNBC is one of my favorite shows. I watch it each day as it is quite entertaining. It is definitely politically incorrect but that is what oft-times makes it so funny. The Imus crew is an equal-opportunity offender and goes after everyone, so I really did not think that much about it when it was said on-air last week. The two leading the charge against Imus are the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who do not exactly have a pristine past when it comes to their own histories. Click for one example. Click for a second example. Click for a third example. I guess I'll watch additional episodes of Green Acres during those two weeks.
