Area rich in history but poor in interest

On this spot in 1865, nothing happened.
That was on a plaque in my barber’s shop in Amarillo. It sums up some of my feelings about living in Colorado. The state has a very colorful history, but the place where I lived was seriously lacking in local lore.
It was hard to get excited about being in a place that gold miners passed through on their way to the mountains above Boulder. Oh, that and the town I lived in was a railroad stop and had a huge sugar beet depot. Woo-hoo.
What I did find interesting was that Arapaho Indians used to live in what is now the village of Niwot, which means Left Hand and is named after an Arapaho chief.
Texas, on the other hand, is loaded with history. I’ve been immersing myself in the War for Texas Independence and really relishing the abundance of historical information and artifacts that are available now for the 175th anniversary. Maybe I’m just a history geek, but it seems to me there should be a lot more interest in local history than what I’ve seen. Perhaps you natives grew up with it pushed at you from all directions in your youth and it’s lost its appeal.
I find it fascinating that the Runaway Scrape passed through Waller County and that the Twin Sisters cannons were delivered to Sam Houston just south of Hempstead at Bernardo Plantation. While the event itself may not be monumental, it is significant in the war because those guns were paramount in the decisive outcome of the Battle of San Jacinto.
Without the cannons, the Texian Army would have likely lost and Texas would be part of Mexico. Just think, the city of Houston could easily have been the city of Santa Anna. The San Jacinto monument could be marking the place where Mexico won final victory in the war. The battle cry “Remember the Alamo” would have a very different meaning.
Viva Texas! Viva Sam Houston!

Live debt free
Thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law, I have fairly recently became a fan of Dave Ramsey. If you don’t know Dave, you should. He is a Christian radio talk show host who informs people how to eliminate debt in their lives. I’ve been listening to some CDs my mother-in-law, Jerry “Grammy” Snyder, loaned us, and it’s eye-opening how simple it is to live a debt-free life.
I did say it was simple, but it also requires hard work. Some of Dave’s staples include: living on less than you make; shredding your credit cards; saving money to buy the big-ticket items you want (house, car, etc.); saving and investing a portion of your income; and, as he is fond of saying, “live life like no one else so that you can live life like no one else.”
Dave is a very dynamic and energetic speaker. You can hear him on the radio locally at 700 AM KSEV in Houston from 2 to 4 p.m. and 1510 AM KAGC in Bryan from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. He is also online at www.daveramsey.com. He will speak live in Houston on Oct. 8. Ticket information is on his website.
I still struggle with finances. Other than my car payment, however, I have almost no debt. I haven’t had a credit card for several years, though I do have a debit card tied to my checking account. The economy makes it difficult for my family to make ends meet, but it has taught us how to live in a thrifty way.
Right now the Texas Legislature is contemplating a measure that would allow casino gambling in the state. I hope they are smart enough to turn it down. While they’re at it, they can take away the lottery as well.
As Dave will tell you, the lottery just a tax on the poor and those who are bad at math. Have you ever wondered why you don’t see wealthy people buying lottery tickets? If you want to win the jackpot, take the money you throw away on the lottery and invest it in an interest-bearing account. It’s guaranteed to make you a winner each time. That’s advice you can take to (and from) the bank. Try doing that with a lottery ticket or at a casino.
Alan Ahlgrim, a pastor of mine back in Colorado, preached an annual sermon on the 10-10-80 plan. It’s great advice. You tithe 10 percent of your income to the church, save another 10 percent and live off the remaining 80 percent. That requires some budgeting and sacrifice, but the long-term reward is worth it.

First shuttle pilot laments end of era

Robert Crippen was a household name 30 years ago with his picture plastered across the front pages of nearly every newspaper and news magazine as he and John Young thundered into orbit on the first flight of the space shuttle.
Today the veteran of four shuttle flights is making the rounds talking to crowds about his historic first flight and lamenting the coming end of the space shuttle era of manned spaceflight.
“I’m sorry to see this part of the space program end. … It’s been a stunning adventure for 30 years,” he said during a speech at the 18th International Academy of Astronautics Humans in Space Symposium last Thursday at the Westin Galleria Hotel.
Two days earlier Crippen was at Kennedy Space Center on the stage with NASA Director Charles Bolden when he announced where the retiring shuttles would be displayed. In an interview after this talk, Crippen was reluctant to share his feelings about Houston’s shuttle snub.
“There really was no way NASA could win on this with only four vehicles … and 20-some applicants,” he said. “I thought they spread them out pretty good, though obviously Houston is disappointed.”
The announcement was made on April 12, the 30th anniversary of the first shuttle flight. Crippen’s remarks in Houston came two days later, on the anniversary of the first landing.
“The launch was great, but the landing was even greater,” he quipped during his speech.
Commanding Columbia on the historic flight was John Young, a veteran astronaut whose previous voyage to space took him to the moon.
“John Young was a natural for being commander of the first flight,” Crippen said. “He was chief of the astronaut office, so he got to pick who went on the flight.”
He said Young selected him as pilot to help expand NASA’s experience base. It was Young’s fifth flight and Crippen’s first. Crippen went on to command three more shuttle flights on Challenger, one in 1983 and twice in 1984.
The first flight met with many delays, most notably the tiles that kept falling off and the main engines that kept exploding in tests.
“The engines are really, really powerful and fragile,” he said.
Safety has always been a top concern for NASA. “We did have ejector seats on the first four flights, but to me that was a placebo,” Crippen said, noting that the tongue of orange flame would instantly vaporize the astronauts if they ejected during flight.
After two days in space putting the shuttle through its shakedown paces, it was time to return home. “Entry was a thing of beauty from my standpoint,” he said. He added that even though they were traveling through space at 17,500 mph, it wasn’t until they were landing that he got a feel for their speed.
“The clouds going by gave me much more sense of speed going by,” he said.
He was caught by surprise when he looked out the window and saw thousands of vehicles parked around the runway at Edwards Air Force Base to view the landing.
“It’s a bittersweet time for me as the program comes to a close,” he said.
He gave a short pitch for a book he helped work on called Wings in Orbit, detailing the shuttle era. Crippen also advocated for the administration to put NASA back on course for continued human spaceflight and exploration. After the last two shuttle flights, NASA will have to depend on Russian Soyuz capsules for transportation to and from the International Space Station.
“It’s sad to see the shuttle come to an end without a definite plan where we’re going in the future,” he said. He added that he feels humans should first establish a base on the moon and then shoot for Mars and beyond.

Historical anniversaries shouldn't be forgotten

This year we mark the 175th anniversary of the War for Texas Independence. It’s also the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the 135th anniversary of Little Bighorn, the 50th anniversary of the first man in space and the 30th anniversary of the space shuttle.
For most people, that’s ho-hum news. For us history buffs, it’s an exciting time to learn and expand our knowledge of the events that made our country and our world what it is today. I don’t know why we make such a big deal out of milestone years divisible by five, but we do. The first big one I recall outside of my birthday was July 4, 1976, when Uncle Sam blew out 200 candles.
That year, we learned all about the Revolutionary War in school. My mother and I baked a birthday cake for America and stuck 200 candles on it. My dad lit them with a blow torch and we sang Happy Birthday. We had to do it quickly because the top of the cake had become a sheet of wax and several of the candles were flickering out in the bubbling pool of red, white and blue goo.
Of course 11 years ago was the big millennial celebration when we all hunkered down in front of our television sets and waited for the Y2K bug to bite. I’ve been bitten worse by gnats.
Thinking of these historic anniversaries has me puzzled at the hows and whys of the things we celebrate. Events like the Alamo and Goliad were one-sided slaughters. We lost, yet we remember them in a much different light with the ultimate victory at San Jacinto – which will be celebrated this weekend in Houston.
The Civil War was won by the North, but the majority of reenactors are Southern Confederates. Even though the South lost, much of its identity is linked to the War Between the States.
America has also been slow to honor the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic first human flight into space, mostly because the milestone was made by our Cold War rivals.
On the other hand, Americans have met most space milestones with nonchalance. Think about it. Without looking it up, can you tell me the date man first landed on the moon? How about the date the first American went into space? Who was that first American?
Getting closer to home, Waller County is in a great position to celebrate many of these milestones. Hempstead and Liendo Plantation played a small role in the Civil War, housing a prisoner of war camp here. To the south, 175 years ago this week, Gen. Sam Houston took possession of the Twin Sisters cannons at Bernardo Plantation during the Runaway Scrape.
Our proximity to the city of Houston should connect most people to space history. There are no doubt people living in the county who made significant contributions to the space program. I know astronauts have visited the area. I got to meet one of them a year or so ago. Charles Bolden, who is now NASA’s administrator, came to Prairie View to honor some gifted math students. Bolden is also the one who on Tuesday snubbed Houston as the home for one of the retired space shuttles.
For whatever it’s worth, the anniversary of Little Bighorn is of no real significance to Waller County, except that George Armstrong Custer was stationed here at the end of the Civil War.
As rich as this area is in Texas history, it would seem to me that there would be some kind of recognition or celebration of the local events. Perhaps the Watermelon Festival parade could have a Texas history theme to it. Maybe a celebration could be tied to the dedication of the Waller County Clock and Bell Tower.
Just to toss out another suggestion, since Waller County played such a huge role in the Runaway Scrape, perhaps the county should do something to commemorate it permanently. A monument with replica cannons and/or an annual reenactment might be in order. With 25 years to go to the bicentennial celebration, perhaps the commissioners could plant a little seed money now to invest in a big shindig when the time comes.
When I was living and working in Elizabeth City, N.C., the city’s bicentennial passed with no formal recognition. The paper put out a nice special section, but the city fathers failed to even acknowledge it with so much as a proclamation. I was pained to see such a milestone pass without recognition. I’d hate to see the same thing happen here.

Biggest thing we make in U.S. is government

Let’s make something, shall we?
I’ve been reading an opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal that jives with something I wrote a few months back. We are no longer a productive nation. This is what the article says: “Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.”
The government doesn’t produce a product. It doesn’t export goods. It simply grows, costing taxpayers more and more each year. The more you feed the beast, the bigger and lazier it becomes.
Let’s face it, people (like me) want to have cozy office jobs, working on a computer without taking the risks or physical exertion that goes with making, marketing and selling a product. It seems our idea of economic development is to lure business and industry here. What ever happened to starting homegrown businesses?
I would say this problem has direct bearing on the nation’s obesity problem. We sit at a computer all day. We come home and spend several more hours surfing the Internet, watching TV or playing video games. It is any wonder that the highest paid people today are entertainers, athletes and the nerds who design the cool gadgets we watch them with?
Note that I said the nerds who DESIGN the gadgets. We’re too cheap and lazy to make them here. We get them from China and its neighbors where they make them faster and cheaper. It used to be that all the cool stuff came from Japan. Once the Japanese got financial clout it caught America’s consumerism disease.
I take a small degree of comfort and pride in knowing that as a journalist I am providing a service and producing a product. Still, there are times I wish I were working outdoors or making something with my hands. The more time I spend with my Scouting sons, the more I recall how fun it was as a kid to do leather craft, wood carving and the sort. I used to love to cartoon and draw pictures.
There are times I’d like to have my childhood imagination back again. I was big into comics, Star Trek, The Lone Ranger, and old monster movies as a youngster. I would draw creative pictures or role-play adventures with my friends. I used to sit in class at school and daydream some fantastic stories.
Now that I’m grown up, my mind is filled with things like, work, church, kids, wife, making ends meet, mowing the lawn, cleaning house, washing dishes and laundry, keeping cars running, and so on and so on (and not necessarily in that order).
While I love my job and have enjoyed a long career, there have been times when I have daydreamed about what I’d like to do if I ever left the Fourth Estate. All of my adult life I’ve had friends telling me I should be a teacher, but I haven’t felt that calling. Many times I’ve desired to get into Christian ministry, but that requires an education I can’t afford.
Sometimes I think it would be fun to design theme restaurants. Imagine dining on the Black Pearl, eating in the Great Hall at Hogwarts or doing lunch in the Batcave. Other times I’d like to have my own curio shop. I’d want to sell stuff ideal for this area, such as cowboy/western, pirate/sea, and space/science fiction collectibles and memorabilia. Houston is kind of a nexus for all three genres. (By the way, I’m claiming intellectual copyright on my ideas!)
There is also a part of me that wishes I had followed my childhood dream of being a forest ranger. I love being outdoors working with animals and such. I’d also like to be a farmer or rancher, though I don’t have the education or money for that. Even running a dude ranch sounds like fun.
Alas, for now those are just dreams. Interestingly, not a one of those occupations produces a product, at least not one that could be exported. And being a teacher or forest ranger would put me on the government dole. That would kind of defeat the purpose of my thought process here. I guess it’s my hope that in some way this column will inspire the entrepreneurial spirit in someone. Maybe we can once again be a nation of makers instead of takers.
So, what do you say, shall we make something?