Hey guys, are you ready for the big game?

It’s fourth and goal guys, are you ready?

The time is upon us and you can’t let your team down. A year has gone by and it’s time for the big game again. If you haven’t made your plans yet, this is your final warning. It’s game time! There is no going back. There’s going to be winners and losers. If you want to know how to be on the winning team, you’ve got to prepare.

Just to be clear, I’m not talking about the big game on Sunday night. I’m talking about the bigger game on Monday. Valentine’s Day. Yeah, that game. The Big One!

With labor and supply chain problems combined with inflation, this year could be an incredible challenge. On top of that, some moron in the NFL thought it might be a good idea to schedule the Super Bowl the night before. Somebody ought to hunt that guy down and punt him all the way to the unemployment line. I mean seriously, who puts two national holidays back-to-back like that!

Once the first big game is over Sunday night, the second big game begins and this is a game you cannot afford to lose. Trust me, the consequences last a lot longer if you lose this game than if you lose the Super Bowl. Your wife or girlfriend will hold a grudge a lot longer than the start of the next football season. You don’t get a clean slate. And every word you say can and will be held against you in a court of her opinion.

At this point some of you (at least the women) are asking why I refer to Valentine’s Day as a game. That’s because it is. Unlike football, however, it’s more of an obstacle course. You’ve got to navigate the racks of Valentine cards to find one that’s just right. This can be a minefield depending on the sentimentality of the card. Do you go for humor or romance? Do you get a plain card, one that unfolds like origami, or one that plays music? If you opt for the generic 99-cent card, give it up now.

Then there are the flowers. A dozen roses that on any other day would cost about $25 are now on sale for the low, low price of $75 to $150! Before you buy flowers for your significant other there some things most guys fail to consider. Is she allergic to any of them? Does she even like cut flowers? Maybe a live plant would be better.

Dinner is generally the biggest problem, especially this year. A lot of restaurants are short-staffed and some are dealing with supply issues. COVID is another complicating factor impacting eateries. Not only that, but if you’ve waited this long it’s probably too late to get a reservation at someplace nice. If you want to go out this weekend on account of Monday being a work day, keep in mind that Sunday is the Super Bowl and a lot of places are going to be packed with rowdy crowds which doesn’t lend itself to a romantic setting.

Your best bet is to plan on a romantic candlelight dinner at home … with the kids … and the pets … and the dishes … and the TV, etc. On second thought, get a sitter and take her out! While you’re at it, “Blithe Spirit” at Plaza Theater might be a fun date.

For the adventurous among us, there is the traditional purchase of lingerie. Who am I kidding? No guy in his right mind goes there. That’s for rookies who think that will help them get lucky. It won’t. Unless you know her current size and are intimately familiar with her preference of undergarments and nightwear, you don’t stand a chance of getting it right. You’ll either get the wrong size (“Just how fat do you think I am!”) or she’ll see right through your little charade like an ultra-sheer negligee.

Another part of this game we play each year is the selection of a box of chocolates. (Substitute other sweets if she doesn’t like chocolate.) Buying chocolates puts you at risk of ruining her diet (which you already blew on dinner) and she will remind you of this. If you don’t get the chocolates, you’ll have to live with the cold shoulder consequences. If you get sugar-free chocolates, look out! That sends a clear message that you think she’s too fat. Do. Not. Ever. Go. There!

To paraphrase Forrest Gump’s mamma, “Valentine’s Day is like a box of chocolates. You never know how she will react.”

My advice is to get a small box of really good chocolates. That shows you care to give her the best, but it’s not like a large box that would fill a cattle trough.

So, here we are. It’s fourth and goal and the game is on the line. The defense has put up the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day back-to-back. Good luck guys! Let me know how it turns out.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.)

What I’d do if I were president

At some point in elementary school, almost everyone was assigned an essay to write about what they would do if they were the president of the United States (or some position of authority).

I’m sure there would have been a lot of free ice cream flowing to the masses, along with no more school (at least homework) for children, the elimination of vegetables from the dinner plate, hot rods or pickup trucks in every driveway, and so on. In hindsight, I think those essays were more for the entertainment value to the teachers than actual grades for the kids.

And then there is the game of what do you want to be when you grow up. I never wanted to be president. I wanted to be a forest ranger. But inevitably there would be a few kids who wanted to grow up to be the POTUS. Their reasons usually had to do with the aforementioned list.

With US and world politics so incredibly messed up today, I thought it might be fun to revisit the question of what would I do if I were president. I should warn you that my politics, although I fancy myself a conservative, tend to be centrist. Ultra conservatives would consider me leftist and liberals would consider me a right-wing nut. I get that a lot. So, without further ado, if I were president, I would:

Create term limits for all senators and congressmen. I firmly believe that we need to eliminate the career politician. If the president is term-limited, so should the legislative branch of government. By limiting terms, we limit power and corruptibility. It makes politicians more accountable to the voters. They can’t just build huge war chests over decades and crush any opposition they get at the polls.

Push to overturn Roe v. Wade. Abortion is at the very core of my political beliefs. I believe it to be murder. I also believe that the Supreme Court’s Roe decision was based on false and inflammatory information. There is no Constitutional right to an abortion. Just the opposite, we are guaranteed the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Abortion denies that to the unborn.

Enact stronger environmental regulations. I know this is often viewed as an anti-business and anti-property rights position, but it is necessary to protect our land, natural resources, and our quality of life. By quality of life I mean the ability to drink clean water, breathe clean air, and live in an environment that supports life.

Although we have adopted the concept of land ownership, none of us really owns the land. We are merely its stewards. What we do to the land, regardless of ownership, impacts not only those around us but future generations as well. If we ruin the environment, there may be no more future generations. This also includes reducing the use of pesticides, which are killing off bees and other pollinators and poisoning the crops we eat.

Along those lines, I would push for further development of renewable resources and the reduction of reliance on fossil fuels. While I do not foresee eliminating our need for oil and gas, we can certainly reduce our dependence on them. The scarcer the oil becomes, the more damage we do to the environment to harvest it. We need oil for many things, including the production of plastics, something we are increasingly reliant upon. Eliminating plastic from the waste stream is something else that needs to be a high priority.

Reduce and eliminate welfare programs. Yes, this sounds inhumane and harsh, but I believe it to be necessary. In all fairness, I have at times in my life used many of the government’s handout programs. But I never stayed there. We have too many people living off of welfare and that dependence on the government is unhealthy in many ways. What was intended to be temporary aid to help people through a rough spot has become a way of life.

Balance the budget and begin debt reduction. This country has not had a balanced budget since 2001. As of this week our national debt has crossed the $30 TRILLION mark. That is an unfathomable amount and is unforgivable of our elected officials (another reason to limit their terms). The blame for this falls on both political parties.

Limit the use of executive orders by the president. This power has been abused by most of the 46 men who have held the office. It’s often used to push political agendas and circumvent Congress. Its use should be limited to mostly emergency powers.

Although I could go on with any number of things I’d do, there is one more of great importance to me. That is to end the spying on the American people by both its government and businesses. Tech giants such as Google and Facebook collect, store, and use way too much personal information about the people who use their services. They pretty much control our access to information and target us with advertisements and other things they want us to see while hiding other information and products we might be interested in or need. This is dangerous to democracy. They manipulate us in ways we do not see and cannot imagine.

I suppose it’s a good thing I’m not a politician. If I were president, I would either fix things up or really mess them up, but either way I would disrupt the status quo. I suppose at the very least this little essay would entertain my teachers, or at least you the reader.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.)

I’ve just joined the cancer fraternity

Cancer. Off and on throughout my career I have written many stories about people fighting cancer.

About 20 years ago I subjected myself to a flexible sigmoidoscopy and several other cancer screenings for a series of columns I wrote about the importance of getting screened for cancer, especially those above 50 years of age. I’ve participated in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and was even a team captain once.

Cancer, however, was always something that affected someone else. Until now. On Jan. 27, I got the call that I had been dreading from my dermatologist. Two of the three spots on my face that were biopsied a week earlier came back as basal cell skin cancer, and the third was pre-cancerous.

Fortunately, I am fairly well versed in the basics of some cancers, and I know that basal cell is minor and easily treated with out-patient surgery. This is more of an annoyance than a problem – unless I let it go untreated because eventually it will become a problem.

Still, it is a little unnerving when you are told you have cancer. From now on, whenever I fill out medical forms, that’s one box I will have to check. It’s like I’ve just joined a kind of medical fraternity. I’m now one of those that I’ve written about so many times over the last three decades.

In the world of cancers, this one is so mild that it hardly seems to qualify as a cancer. It’s not like getting leukemia or cancers of the lung, brain, or breast. I won’t have to go through radiation treatments or take chemotherapy. There will be no (unnatural) hair loss. I’ll lose a day of work and will have to wear a Band-Aid on my face, but that’s the worst of it. If I have to have a cancer, this is the one to get.

In recent years I’ve watched as a few relatives and friends battled various cancers. Some have won and some haven’t. Some are in the trenches for the long haul. Cancer is an ugly, nasty beast and it doesn’t play fair. Detected early, almost all cancers can be conquered. Some are slow growing and not urgent. Other are aggressive and claim their victims within weeks or months.

The key to fighting cancer is early detection. This can’t be emphasized enough. From unusual spots on your skin, to lumps in a breast, or blood in your stool, all are signs of possible cancer and should be checked immediately.

Last year I had my 10-year colonoscopy. The doctor cut out a couple of pre-cancerous polyps and now I must go back for my next colonoscopy in five years. While that’s not very fun or convenient, it is much better than the alternative.

Everyone should get a colonoscopy after they turn 50. I had my first one earlier than that out of an abundance of caution by my doctor. I’m glad he suggested it, because if I had waited until I was 50, I would still be a few more years away from my second one and those polyps may have spread and become cancerous.

Women, those of you 40 and older know what you need to do. From what I’m told, mammograms are very uncomfortable, but then so is treatment for advanced breast cancer.

As I get older I become more aware that eventually all of us will die. How we pass from this life is something none of us can control naturally. We don’t have to let cancer be our executioner, at least not in most cases. You just have to be your own best advocate and listen to what your body tells you. You can never be too busy to get something checked out. If you are, you may find yourself with no more time on your hands.

I guess what I’m trying to say in all this rambling is that cancer affects everyone in some way. Be vigilant and get regular checkups. Watch for warning signs in yourself and others. Don’t procrastinate if you suspect something. The life you save may be your own.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express and can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.)

Maintaining historical integrity in a changing world

History and tradition have been on my mind quite a bit lately.

Two things in particular have been eating up more mental real estate than I should probably afford.

First is the ongoing conflict over how to best restore the old Hopper Elementary School (previously Stephen F. Austin Elementary School) at 500 Abell St. The Wharton County Heritage Partnership (WCHP) is working to get the building listed on the National Register of Historic Places, something the developer of the site supports. Both sides are in agreement that the exterior of the building will be preserved and maintained. Where they disagree is on the inside.

Developer David Bowlin, who has a contract to buy the property from the Wharton Independent School District, wants to turn the school into housing units, converting classrooms into apartments, and building single-family homes on the playground. This would be done through an $8.75 million grant from HUD through the Texas General Land Office.

Members of the Wharton County Heritage Partnership (WCHP) wants to see the building preserved and utilized for educational and community purposes. Member Jeffrey Blair told the Wharton City Council that his organization would like to buy the property and partner with the Wharton ISD to provide programming there. He said he envisions a place like the Northside Center in El Campo. He said the school district, Wharton County Junior College, and other nonprofit entities in town could make use of the space for classes and community programs.

Blair said the WCHP is not opposed to Bowlin using the grant to build housing, they just want the grant moved to another site. Bowlin said he and the city would lose the grant if the project is moved.

Both designs for the building are admirable and worth consideration. Looking at this objectively, I think Bowlin’s take on it will ultimately win out. That’s because money talks. He has control of the grant and has the resources to make the project happen. It will bring new life to a vacant building while maintaining the structural and historical integrity of the property.

The amateur historian in me leans toward the side of the WCHP because once the facility is altered it will be nearly impossible to change it back. For a case in point, just look at the history of the Alamo and the struggle now to restore the compound grounds.

Another disadvantage for the WCHP is, once again, financial. Nonprofit organizations, and historical ones in particular, typically do not have the funds to own, restore and maintain property. There has been no plan presented that would explain how the organization could fund the purchase and restoration, let alone maintain it over the long haul. If they do have such a plan, I have not seen it.

It is not unusual for historic buildings to have modern uses different than what the building was originally intended for. While the WCHP’s play would maintain the current interior structure of the building, its use would still be altered from that of a school.

One of the things going in Bowlin’s favor is that the city desperately needs more housing, especially affordable housing. This would provide a dozen or so homes that could be regulated as affordable.

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.

 

Sugar Land Skeeters, 2012-2021

This week the Sugar Land Skeeters announced they are having a party on Jan. 29 to announce the re-branding of the franchise. Last year the baseball club left the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and became the AAA farm team for the Houston Astros.

After 10 years as the Skeeters, the Astros – which purchased majority ownership of the team last year – are changing the name. It was leaked almost immediately and first broke on TV by Fox 26 Sports Director Mark Berman that the new name will be the Sugar Land Space Cowboys.

Predictably the news spread like wildfire on Facebook with Skeeters fans absolutely hating the new name and the logo that leaked out with it.

I’m bummed. I was one of the multitude that didn’t like the Skeeters name when it was chosen, but it quickly grew on me. I’m one of the team’s biggest fans. I assumed the Skeeters name would be around forever. But Astros ownership made it clear that it wants to keep a space theme running throughout the organization, keeping with the Astros name. (Could a change for the Corpus Christi Hooks be next?)

Honestly, I think Space Cowboys is a great name for team in Texas. Space and cowboys are both very symbolic of the Lone Star State, especially the Houston area. I just hate losing the Skeeters name and the incredible history that has been associated with it for the last 10 seasons. In eight seasons with the Atlantic League, the Skeeters won two championships (2016, 2018), played in two other championship series, made the playoffs five times, and also won the championship of the four-team pop-up Constellation Energy League it created in 2020 during the pandemic.

In the first AAA season with the Astros, the Skeeters went 71-49 and won the Eastern Division title. In 10 years the Skeeters are 689-562 for a .551 winning percentage. I’m proud of the Skeeters, the owners, management, players, staff, and even the mascot Swatson. It will be very interesting to see the new logos, schemes, and mascot when all is revealed on Jan. 29. I’m sure in time fans will embrace the Space Cowboys, just as we did the Skeeters.

The main thing is we want to keep the winning tradition alive. I just hope they don’t kill the family friendliness at Constellation Field and the affordability of the games. If the last season under the Astros is any indicator, we’re going to lose out on that end.

I guess one of the constants in history is change and whether it be an old school or a favorite baseball team, we all must adjust to change and make the best of it.

These stories we tell are your stories

Sometimes I feel like I’m reinventing the wheel. Sometimes I feel like the hamster running endless circles inside it. Other times I feel like I’m cruisin’ down the highway on the two wheels of a Harley (although I’ve never actually ridden a Harley, so I don’t know what that experience is like).

Coming into this job at the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express is in many ways as comfortable as an old shirt, sweatpants, and a favorite chair. I’ve been doing community journalism for over three decades and this feels right at home – mostly.

Being new to any community means there is a lot to learn to come up to speed. There is history to learn, people to meet, and the nuances of relationships to navigate. The latter can be tricky, especially when there were bridges burned by your predecessor.

Trust is a very big thing with me, and when people don’t trust me, or more specifically the paper I work for, my job becomes that much harder. I’m a relationship builder. I’ll wave the community flag, cheer the local teams, and sing the praises of local accomplishments of people, businesses, and other entities around town, especially nonprofit organizations and churches.

This doesn’t mean I ignore the “bad” news – crime, corruption, etc. – it means I prefer to write the good, uplifting news that people want and need to hear.

That hamster-in-a-wheel feeling I get comes from putting out three newspapers a week (two in Wharton and one in East Bernard). I’m the only full-time person in the newsroom for both papers. I share writers with El Campo and I have a few stringers, but it’s up to me to cover most of the news and to lay out the pages for three papers each week.

Doing three papers is a very new experience for me. So far, I’ve been up to the challenge, but I’m seeing more and more things start to fall through the cracks. There’s just too much going on for one person to handle. That’s where I need your help. I am very dependent upon people submitting news items to me.

I need churches and nonprofit organizations to email me their news and photos. The same goes for schools, first responders, and anyone else wanting the public to know about their events, programs, honors, etc. (Please send text in a form that can be copied and pasted.)

You see, although the newspapers have owners, they really belong to the people and the communities they represent. Owners come and go, but communities and their papers do not. It’s a relationship forged over many decades, and in some cases, centuries.

Newspapers pride themselves on being the first draft of history. In some cases, we’re the only draft. We can’t tell your stories if we don’t know about them. And me being one person, I can’t get to all of them. But you can come to us and we can share your news.

People enjoy seeing their picture in the paper and reading their name in print. A former publisher of mine used to joke that he could sell more papers each week if he just reprinted the phone book (for those of us old enough to remember phone books).

Wharton and East Bernard are remote enough that no other media outlet is going to cover the goings on. Sure, there are groups on social media sites that will share news and information, but how much of it can you trust? You’re not going to get any fake news here. We may make mistakes now and then, but we will always strive for fair, honest, and balanced news reporting that you can trust.

Not only do we want to publish all the local news that we can, I also want this to be a relationship. I want to hear your opinions in letters to the editor. I want you to feel like you have a stake in our publication, because you do. We can’t exist without readers and advertisers.

This is your community and your newspaper. We can do this thing together. I don’t have to be the hamster. I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. I just need time to get some rubber on the road and I want you to come along for the ride.

Please feel free to share your news with me at news@journal-spectator.com. I’m anxious to meet you and see where this relationship can take us.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express and can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.)

After 37 years, the USFL is being resurrected

In 1983, my senior year of high school back in Colorado, a brand new football league took to the field.

It was hugely exciting for me to watch the United States Football League because I could follow it from the start. I was immediately a big-time Denver Gold fan. I still am, but the Gold – nor any of the other USFL teams – have played a single down since the 1985 season came to an end.

All of that will end in April when a reincarnation of the USFL begins play with eight teams. Regrettably the Denver Gold is not one of the teams, but the Houston Gamblers are!

The revamped league is owned by FOX Sports and will be played in the spring, just like the original league. The current teams include the Gamblers, New Jersey Generals, Tampa Bay Bandits, New Orleans Breakers, Michigan Panthers, Philadelphia Stars, Pittsburgh Maulers, and the Birmingham Stallions.

Before you start searching for tickets, the first season will be played entirely in one city, to be named later. Naturally, with a TV network owning the league, they will direct fans to their television sets. FOX Sports will carry 22 of the 43 games, with 12 broadcast on FOX and 10 on FS1. NBC Sports will be the home of the other 21 games, with eight on NBC, nine on USA Network and four on Peacock.

From all appearances, the new USFL learned some painful and expensive lessons from the first version. It’s not gunning to be a spring league version of the NFL. It is taking a page out of the reincarnated XFL’s playbook, which played half a season before getting the kibosh by COVID in 2020. It is starting out slow with sub-NFL talent and carefully building fan bases in solid football markets.

That’s the way the first USFL was supposed to operate, but its owners went berserk and started dumping millions of dollars on top prospects and trashed the developmental playbook in favor of ruthless audibles called by a particularly mouthy, dishonest, egotistical moron who owned the New Jersey Generals. He was a real estate tycoon who went on to become the 45th president of the United States.

Donald Trump started signing Heisman Trophy winners and paying huge salaries, forcing the other owners to do likewise. He then led the charge to move the USFL to the fall, the domain of the NFL. That led Trump to sue the NFL in a famous case he actually won, but was awarded only $1 in damages by the jury. That essentially ended the league after three wild seasons.

If the insanely crazy history of the USFL interests you, I highly recommend the book “Football for a Buck” by Jeff Pearlman. Trust me, you won’t believe a lot of the stuff that happened in that league. Pearlman wrote a very well researched and documented gem that reads like a horror/comedy with an emphasis on the comedy.

Oh, and I contributed a photo of the Denver Gold that is errantly credited to the author. I am, however, acknowledged as a contributor in the epilogue. You see, the first professional football game I photographed from the sidelines was a Gold game against the Generals in 1985. The USFL and the Gold also afforded me the opportunity to see professional football games in person. The Denver Broncos were expensive and sold out, so a country bumpkin like me didn’t have much chance to see those games. Gold tickets were cheap and seating was plentiful.

Earlier I mentioned the XFL. I photographed all three of the Houston Roughnecks’ home games in 2020 and thoroughly enjoyed that league. COVID killed it, but Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson saved it and will bring it back for a third time in 2023 (the league played one season in 2001). How two leagues will function at the same time remains to be seen. All I know is I love both leagues and spring football. When I lived in North Carolina in 1991 I got to photograph a game between the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks and the New York/New Jersey Knights of the World League of American Football. That spring league merged with the NFL as a minor league and later became the NFL Europe League, which folded in 2007.

Spring has proven to be a tough battlefield for professional football, but the interest is clearly there and I think the XFL would be hugely popular today had COVID not struck. Now the USFL is back and I’m hyped. I may not be in high school anymore, but having the USFL back makes me feel young again. If spring football interests you, please let me know.

(Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and East Bernard Express and can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.)

Embracing what can be in Texas this year

Just over a year ago we committed to spending this past Christmas back home in Colorado with my parents.

It had been three years since we last spent the holiday with them. A lot has happened in the past year since we made the commitment, but we made it. It was my first time back there since I attended my brother’s funeral last January. We were there a week and crammed a lot of visiting and activity into it. Mostly I spent time reflecting on what was and contemplating what could have been.

I had coffee with a couple friends I worked with at my hometown newspaper and we lamented what it had become. The three of us left about 15 years ago and have watched it slowly die. It’s still published daily, but from a remote location with no local office or presence. A once robust company with 250 employees and a three-story building with printing plant now shares a small office out of town where several other papers are produced.

That had been the best job I ever had, but I’m happy now to be working in a place where community journalism still thrives and people appreciate what we do. Seeing what has become of the journalistic landscape in Colorado, not to mention the social and political landscapes, and my desire to return continues to diminish. Even friends who have been badgering us for years to come back are now talking about leaving. It’s painful to see what’s become of Colorado, but it makes me more determined to make sure that never happens to Texas. 

In Colorado, we used to joke that Boulder was 10 square miles completely surrounded by reality. It has now proven to be a dark blue drop of socialist dye that has stained most of the Front Range. That was abundantly clear by the mask mandates still in place, numerous shuttered stores, a large homeless population, and home prices encroaching the million-dollar mark.

But I don’t want to beat on the political drum right now. My future is here in Texas. Although politics are unavoidable, I’m interested in local community matters. I want to get to know the people of Wharton County better and to report the news that is important to you, our readers.

That is my primary goal heading into 2022. I’m tired of just surviving in this industry. Wharton County is on the cusp of great potential and one of the cornerstones of community success is a strong, dependable media presence. The nation’s founding fathers knew this when they cemented freedom of the press in the First Amendment. Journalism is essential to good government, robust commerce, and justice, to name a few. That is what I hope you find in me as we get to know each other.

I strive to be open, honest, fair, and trustworthy. When I make a mistake, I want to be corrected. I believe all people deserve to be treated with respect. I expect that in return. 

Now some of you may be saying hold it, didn’t you just diss the good people of Colorado? I did, but backed by personal experience and observable facts. Exposing the failures of government and socialist policies is part of what good journalists do. I come into this job and this new year hoping for the best but preparing for the worst knowing there are many important elections coming up, among other things.

Christmas is past and the new year is upon us. Vacation is over and it’s time to get to work. I look forward to embarking on this adventure together with you.

Sleuthing Wharton’s incredible potential

What is this place and why haven’t I been here before?

For the past 13 years I’ve lived up the road in Rosenberg. I’ve spent several of those years working for newspapers in Sugar Land and Sealy. My only encounters with Wharton were basically high school sports teams coming to play whatever local school I was covering at the time. Other than the occasional stop at Buc-ee’s, Wharton was just another town I passed through on my way to someplace else. Until I started this job Dec. 2, I had never wandered off U.S. Highway 59 into town.

Now that I’ve been here three weeks I can’t help but wonder why it took me so long. Wharton is clearly one of the area’s best kept secrets. All of the people I’ve met so far have been incredibly kind and welcoming. Although there are some blighted areas, the city has a nice mix of historic buildings and modern facilities. The potential for historical preservation downtown is incredible.

Having spent 10 months this year living in Fredericksburg, I’ve come to appreciate what historical preservation can mean to a community. I honestly feel Wharton has what it takes. No, this isn’t the Texas Hill Country, and Wharton isn’t Fredericksburg, but the city has that potential once it finds its niche.

It seems every city in the state is the capital of something or other. Wharton just needs to figure out what it does bigger and better than everyone else. It may be something that’s already here or perhaps it’s something yet to be. So far I’ve seen some really nice antique stores and resale shops. Could antiquing become the big draw? That would blend well with the city’s historic districts.

We have the Colorado River and Caney Creek here in town. Maybe there is some way to capitalize on that, kind of like the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Water features are always a nice attraction.

Don’t tell me something significant can’t be done. In the short time I’ve been in the region I’ve watched as Sugar Land transformed itself into a destination city with its palatial city hall, Constellation Field, and Smart Financial Center, among other things. Katy and Fulshear have done similar things. Why not Wharton?

For years I’ve been hearing that Sealy will be the new Katy as the Houston area expands westward. If Sealy can be the new Katy, why can’t Wharton be the new Sugar Land? But then why be limited by Sugar Land? Wharton can be so much more. It’s not hemmed in by other cities and towns. There is room to grow and create.

Back in my home state of Colorado, the city of Loveland became a mecca for sculptors. It’s quite the attraction. And while the city of Estes Park has the beauty of the mountains and is the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, people go there for the shops and restaurants.

If Wharton is interested in reinventing itself (I could be wrong about this), then it must first have a plan. Most cities have a comprehensive plan to guide development and I found Wharton’s online. I took a quick peek at it and it’s pretty pedestrian. There are no BHAGs (big, hairy, audacious goals) in it. It suffers from a lack of imagination.

But perhaps the good people of Wharton don’t want the city to be anything more than it already is – a bedroom community for Houston. Perhaps the rural, small-town life is the appeal of Wharton. Growth means change and change means growth. Change can be hard to accept, especially of you love the community the way it is.

Not changing, however, is stagnation and death. More buildings will be boarded up and the younger generations will seek greener pastures (perhaps in Katy of Sugar Land) and only think of Wharton as a good place to be from.

I plan to be a part of the community for a long time and don’t want to see it suffer from blight when it has such incredible potential to shine. If I were an entrepreneur I would be looking at Wharton as a potential gold mine. This would be a great time to invest in property, open restaurants and boutiques, and capitalize on the location, especially as U.S. 59 becomes Interstate 69, opening the area to even more possibilities.

When people exit off the highway to stop at Buc-ee’s, we need to give them a good reason to head south into town. There is a lot to see and experience here but nothing to point that out or make it clear. Buc-ee’s should be the gateway to Wharton, not the destination.

The people here are wonderful and that is the best resource of any community. Welcome to Wharton, the State Capital of Friendliness! Has kind of a nice ring to it, don’t you agree?

Celebrating these magical times of year

Late December is always a magical time of year for me.

It’s also incredibly stressful, but in a good way.

In 1999 as the world was counting down to Y2K, Sandy and I were counting down to Dec. 17, the day we tied the knot. It is a second marriage for both of us, but one that was built to last. At least it has lasted 22 years so far and shows no signs of stopping or slowing down. The tires have been kicked, the doors dinged, the bumper bumped, and the radiator has blown steam a time or two, but the engine purrs like a kitten and the ride is smooth.

It’s mind-boggling to me to look back at all we’ve been through and to see that we’re still together and still very much in love after all this time. She is an amazing woman and every day I count my blessings to be able to call her my wife. Most couples would have cashed in long ago had they been through some of the stuff we’ve survived. We’re still together and going strong by the grace of God and a firm commitment to our vows.

The early years of our marriage suffered from heated clashes over parenting styles, bankruptcy, foreclosure, long-distance moves, addiction, depression, financial hardships, unemployment, health issues, and more. By no means are we out of the woods, but we’ve learned to appreciate the beauty of the forest on this journey through life together.

I think that’s what made all of this bearable, being together. We have each other’s back and we can trust and depend on one another to always be there. That lesson really hit home this year as I spent 10 months 250 miles away from my family in Fredericksburg, where I was the managing editor of the Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post.

We wanted to live closer to her parents in Kerrville, and that job seemed ideal. It was for me, but it wasn’t meant to be. Sandy was unable to secure employment there, leading me to take this position here closer to our Rosenberg home. Other than weekends together, we lived apart for 10 months, honing the adage that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

When we first started dating and contemplating marriage, I had the mindset that Sandy would always be my trophy wife, especially since she’s more than eight years younger than me. I still think of her as my trophy wife, and so much more. I’m clearly the junior partner in our relationship.

Throughout all the tough stuff I mentioned before, Sandy managed to give birth to two boys (making four children between us), go to school online and earn her bachelor’s degree in business administration, followed a few years later by getting her master’s degree in healthcare administration while working fulltime.

Oh, and she’s active in Scouting, currently serving as a district commissioner and Wood Badge instructor. And she’s in Toastmasters. And she loves to cook and sew. We’re active in our church (she used to sing on the praise team). The list of her commitments and accomplishments is very long. Compared to her I’m lazy and forgetful. Which is part of the reason why this time of year is so stressful for me.

She takes care of almost all of our Christmas shopping. Sandy is the only one I need to buy for, and I struggle with that. But Christmas and our anniversary are close together, and about a month removed from her birthday, so I have to very carefully plan and balance gifts between these three major events each year. Oh yeah, and our youngest son has a birthday in early December, along with her father in mid-December.

Like I said, it’s a stressful time of year, but in a good way. Every holiday, anniversary, and birthday is a reminder of just how gracious and generous God was when he brought us together. I honestly think the secret to a lasting marriage is to keep God at the center of it, closely followed by your spouse. If you put your spouse’s needs before your own, eventually all your needs will be met.

For me, being married to Sandy is like having Christmas every day. Her beauty is beyond compare, especially on the inside. I eagerly anticipate each moment I get to spend with her. It’s like constantly having that Christmas morning feeling of excitement and anticipation each time I see the love in her eyes, feel the warmth of her hugs, taste the sweet wine of her kisses, and pleasure in the song of her voice.

And honestly, I have to say these things because I forgot to get her an anniversary card and this will have to do.

I love you, Sweetheart! Happy anniversary!

 

Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express. You can contact him at news@journal-spectator.com.

Stop pretending there is a war on Christmas

We’re Americans. It’s time to act like it.

It’s that time of year when the usual holiday garbage begins to recirculate on Facebook and other social media platforms – does it ever really stop?

Let’s clear the air and flush the fertilizer that clogs up our social media feeds and fuels anger and frustration instead of providing holiday cheer.

There is no war on Christmas. There never was. You can say Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever you feel like. The First Amendment gives you that right. You can also call it X-mas. It’s not hurting anyone and it’s not disrespectful. It’s not taking Christ out of Christmas. It is an abbreviation. The X comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós, which became Christ in English.

It’s OK to play Christmas music all month long (even before Thanksgiving). It’s not against the law (unless it’s “The Christmas Shoes,” “Santa Baby,” “Last Christmas,” or anything by Mariah Carey).

Stop saying certain songs and holiday programs are banned (unless they’re on the aforementioned list). They’re not. News flash: You can listen to any song and watch any TV special you want (unless it’s “Elf” with Will Ferrell – I will judge you!). Trust me, the PC police are not coming.

And if the networks and radio stations don’t play your favorite holiday fare, guess what? This is America. They don’t have to. That doesn’t mean they’re banned or the broadcaster is banning anything. It may be something as simple as they can’t sell advertising for it or its declining ratings are no longer worth airing it. Or maybe it’s so lame that nobody else cares about it.

You can put up a nativity scene on your front lawn. Unless you are in a homeowners’ association that prohibits all lawn decoration, go for it. If your neighbors can put up Santa or the Grinch, then by all means, put Jesus in the manger.

While we’re at it, don’t vilify the Pilgrims at Thanksgiving. They didn’t come here to subjugate or annihilate Native Americans. They came here to find religious liberty and a new start.

A day of giving thanks is not the time to beat the war drums in protest of European settlement of America. What European settlers did to Native Americans is tragic and a point of national shame, but that has nothing to do with Thanksgiving.

If a day of recognition and mourning for Native Americans is needed, I suggest moving the focus from Thanksgiving to Nov. 29, the day in 1864 when hundreds of peaceful Cheyennes and Arapahos were brutally slaughtered in the Sand Creek Massacre. Or maybe the Dec. 29, 1890, Wounded Knee Massacre. Those events more than anything exemplify the crimes of whites against the native people.

 

Know the real enemy

To borrow from cartoonist Walt Kelly’s 1970 Pogo comic, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Facebook has made that abundantly clear.

It’s disheartening to see how easily people are manipulated into anger and offense by memes, half-truths and lies. I don’t know what is worse, the fact that people would put such garbage out there or that people would be so quick to eat it up and turn on one another.

I continually flirt with the idea of getting off Facebook and most all other social media platforms, but the need to stay connected to family and friends keeps me going. Then someone will post nonsense about politics or the pandemic and everything gets all riled up again.

So here’s the deal. If you really value Thanksgiving, Christmas and all the holidays this time of year, let’s act like we believe in the messages of gratitude, peace, and love.

Stop commenting on the negative. Feed the positive. Flood your feeds with beauty, joy, gratitude and contentment.

Celebrate and have fun. Life is too short to swim in the sewer. That is the American way.

 

Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express. You can contact him at news@journal-spectator.com.

Meet the new editor of the Journal-Spectator

Oh goody, here comes another outsider to try and tell us how to live.

It’s true, as the new managing editor of the newspaper, I’m something of an outsider lacking detailed knowledge of Wharton, Wharton County, and some of the area’s illustrious history. The good news is I’m not from California.

That being said, my father is from California, but he has lived in Colorado for nearly 60 years. Colorado is where I’m from. I grew up north of Denver. I’ve also lived in Minnesota and North Carolina but have been in Texas since 2005. I’ve been a journalist since joining my high school newspaper in 1981. I got my journalism degree from Adams State College and have worked for more than 10 daily and weekly newspapers over the last 34 years.

Among the many things that led me to take my family from the Rockies to the Lone Star State was the chaos created there by the massive influx of Californians. I don’t mean to pick on them, I just bring it up to commiserate with fellow Texans who are tired of these West Coast refugees who seem to think they’re missionaries.

For what it’s worth, my wife, Sandy, is a Houston native and her family lines go deep into the pre-Republic of Texas era. Although the youngest two of our four children were born in Colorado, they grew up in Texas and consider themselves Texans. We have a daughter in Colorado and a son and daughter-in-law in Florida.

We’ve lived in Rosenberg for the last 13 years. Our youngest two sons graduated from B.F. Terry High School and the youngest is now a freshman at Texas A&M.

As you get to know us over the coming weeks and months, you’ll learn that we’re fairly conservative and a wee bit eccentric. We’re active in church (Christian/Church of Christ) and Boy Scouts (I’m an Eagle, as are two of our three sons, plus Sandy and I are Wood Badge trained). I’m a colonel in the Texas Army (Texas Revolution re-enactment group), a member of the Brazos Bend State Park Volunteer Organization, a member of the Fort Bend County Historical Commission, and founder and former owner of the official Lone Ranger Fan Club.

My interests range from a love of nature and the outdoors to space exploration. I like history, genealogy, black powder shooting, renaissance festivals, comic cons, science fiction (Star Wars, Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica), and sports. Football (Broncos and Texans) and baseball (Rockies, Twins, Astros and Sugar Land Skeeters) are my favorites.

My big passion, however, is photography. I love photographing sports and outdoors. Over the last six years I’ve been credentialed with the Texans, Astros, Skeeters and the upstart Houston SaberCats rugby team. I’ve photographed many rodeos for years and thoroughly enjoy it. I got to cover all the Astros home games during the playoffs and World Series in 2019, which was an amazing experience.

My wife works in the Houston Medical Center for UT Health. She has a master’s in healthcare administration and is passionate about rural healthcare. She has an uncanny knack for understanding insurance and has actually read and understood Obamacare. Her interests include sewing (especially costume making), cooking and Scouting (she’s a District Commissioner and Wood Badge instructor).

So, that’s us in a nutshell. We look forward to getting to know you and engaging in the community here.

And no, I’m not here to change your lives, but rather integrate into the community. Feel free to drop me a line at news@journal-spectator.com.