Dick, Author at Eight Feet Deep

July 14, 2011July 14, 2011

College credits for vets: A good idea if it works

Our good-haired governor has, for a moment at least, left the national stage to promote a bill that might help veterans with education and jobs down the road.

Gov. Rick “Good Hair” Perry is touting a program penned by Democratic Sen. Leticia Van De Putte of San Antonio which would encourage colleges and the state’s workforce commission to work together toward granting some college credits for veterans military experience. Perry today ceremonially signed the “College Credits for Heroes” program which:

” … helps veterans and military service members transition to civilian life by applying their skills and experience to help them graduate more quickly and save money on tuition,” Perry said.

Perry apparently thought he would spend a little time in Texas prior to his big day of “Prayer and Fasting” on Aug. 6. Were the governor in touch with many real Texans he would find that more were “praying they don’t have to fast.” The Good Hair has still not made up his mind about a presidential bid despite most Texas political pundits saying a decision is likely in “one or two days,” something those pundits have been saying now for two months.

I have never really cared for the cliche “the devil is in the details.” But if one looks at what details there are in Senate Bill 1736, the legislation Sen. Van De Putte wrote for the veterans college program, one gets a distinct feeling we have heard this all before. This is especially so if the “we” are veterans from the past 30 or so years. The legislation states:

(b) The (Texas Workforce) commission shall establish and administer the College Credit for Heroes demonstration program to identify, develop, and support methods to maximize academic or workforce education credit awarded by institutions of higher education to veterans and military service members for military experience, education, and training obtained during military service in order to expedite the entry of veterans and military service members into the workforce.

“(c) The commission shall work cooperatively with other state agencies, including the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, public junior colleges, and other institutions of higher education, to accomplish the purposes of this section.”

I can’t say that the state has tried anything similar in the past three decades or so. My institutional memory of Texas legislation doesn’t go back that distance. But I know there have been countless efforts both through the federal government and the military which would help convert military jobs toward civilian educational credit. Since 1942 the American Council on Education has evaluated military schools, correspondence courses and occupations to determine how much and what level of academic credit each should be awarded to veterans. This is being done currently through programs such as DANTES (Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support) with support also coming from individual military service programs. Even more than 30 years ago when I served in the Navy it was possible for many military personnel to earn at least associate degrees and programs have greatly expanded since then.

That is not to say such a program as Van De Putte established in legislation and our governor signed isn’t a helpful one in theory. From what I have personally experienced and have heard from other veterans, the biggest stumbling block in converting military service into college credit has been the colleges themselves. There is and probably will always be an “Ivory Tower” mindset that thinks the military is made of people who lacked the intellect go to college or at least could not attend a good college.

The legislation SB 1736 is another one of those pieces of law with its heart in the right place, that being for veterans. If it is yet another program that ends up in an endless bureaucratic loop of government, military and academia, then the effort is probably just a waste of time and tax money.

July 13, 2011July 13, 2011

Tired of the same ol’ snooze? Put on some vintage Stink

A deejay was announcing upcoming music by several bands this afternoon and it got me somewhat fixated on one of the little things we do in life to torture our language.

One of the bands was the Commodores, you remember them? Lionel Ritchie. “Brick House.” (She’s mighty-mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out …) “Easy (Like Sunday Morning.)” Yeah. Well, you either liked them or you didn’t. I remember listening to one of the Navy ensemble bands playing “Easy,” on a Sunday morning in fact, on the Broadway Pier in San Diego. It was kind of easy as I remember. Of course, it should have been.

Anyway, that easy as a brick house group would come out as the “Commode-o-doors” anytime the name was mentioned around my friend Warren.

I looked around a bit online to see if I could find out what that particular type of wordplay is called. I don’t know if it’s a homophone, not to be confused with a “homophobe” but that’s the kind of thing I am talking about.

When my friends and fellow college alumni met up recently in Nacogdoches, I introduced them to an old friend who is now a Realtor. We mentioned the local daily newspaper which is “The Daily Sentinel” but as long as I can remember it was nicknamed “The Daily Senile.” That’s not to say it’s a bad paper. I worked there for a few years. But that is just the way it is with certain names, especially in a college town. Newspapers especially have nicknames just about everywhere: “The Startle-Gram” is more or less a term of affection for the “Fort Worth Star-Telegram.” There is no telling how many papers there are nicknamed “The Daily Snooze.” My Realtor friend Mel, by the way, worked as a cashier at Wal-Mart back when she was going to college. This was in the 80s and I don’t know if it was a carryover from “National Lampoon’s Vacation” but Mel used to nickname her old employer “Wallyworld.” In fact, she was the first person I ever heard call the giant retailer that. I have heard it millions of times since.

College towns are particularly rich for that kind of teasing. We used to wash clothes at a store called “Shopkeeper’s.” To one of my ex-girlfriends the place was “Shoplifters.” We had a really good fast food Mexican place in town that was named “Taco USA.” Some friends pronounced it as “Tay-ko Use-uh.” Perhaps it was the Cold War days that inspired many to refer to it as “Taco Russia.”

People also have a habit of shortening proper names. That seems popular in the Urban culture, hence Jay Z and so forth. I used to stop into a Diamond Shamrock store on I-35 in Waco for a cup of coffee before I went to work in the mornings. They actually had some good coffee for a convenience store. I dubbed it the D-Rock.

There are any number of perversions, or pleasures if you will, that can come of our words especially those proper nouns. Such usage probably drives about half the population crazy and delights the other half. After all, what are words but little sounds waiting to be sounded. So if you love them, those crazy little words, set them free … Free free, set them free, free free … to paraphrase that great rock and former New Wave icon from the band Police. Yes, I’m talking about none other than — Stink.

July 12, 2011July 12, 2011

The race is on: Who will not be my congressman?

You have no doubt heard the old expression: “Thank God for small favors.”

Well, one may thank whomever they choose in this country but I am thankful this afternoon to Republican Congressman Ron Paul. You see, Paul announced today he would not seek re-election to the U.S. House, where he has held a seat for 24 years. Why am I thanking Paul? I thank him because our GOP-infested Texas Legislature drew a map to redistrict Rep. Paul’s congressional district right into my very own Jefferson County, Texas. That meant Paul would have likely been my congressman beginning in 2013 provided he failed to win the GOP nomination or a third-party bid for president. Even though Paul maintains he quit his current day job as a lawmaker — the 75-year-old is a medical doctor and was a practicing OB/GYN — to concentrate on his presidential run there would have been a very good chance he would be returning to Congress.

Some folks are skeptical that Paul got out of the congressional race to concentrate on a run for president. First of all, Paul has been down this road before. He ran in 1988 as a Libertarian candidate for president. He came in third with 0.5% of the popular vote behind George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.

In 2008 Paul sought the Republican nomination, which he did not get. You may remember the controversy over his newsletter that was supposedly ghost written, containing a number of racially-tinged comments around the time of that presidential run.

A number of talking heads suggest that Paul is intelligent enough to know that there is no way in Hell he could ever win the GOP nomination, or another third-party try for that matter. Paul is instead in the race for as long as he can afford to do so in order to have his message heard. Anyone who has studied political science, or even paid attention in high school government classes for that matter, knows most third-party or long-shot candidates for president run to make a particular point of view heard. Paul has a loyal following and is dubbed by some as the “Father of the Tea Party.” That alone is reason enough for my thanking Congressman Paul for his service, both in the military as a flight surgeon and as an elected official, but most of all for his decision not to run for what would be my member of Congress.

Others out there believe the redistricting job was meant to derail Paul’s chances of returning to office. A post on a Website titled “The Daily Paul” said the Texas Legislature added about 300,000 votes to the new congressional district including my county and part of Galveston County so that Paul would find less voting age Anglos as well as more Hispanics and Blacks.

Nevertheless, Paul won’t be my new congressman and unless something changes with a judicial review of the new districts, neither will Rep. Ted Poe continue to be my old U.S. House member.

poe — Ted Poe will NOT be my congressman either. Let's hear some cheers!

Now I must say that if the race for my congressional member was between Paul and Poe, I’d pick Paul. I’ve had Poe for however long now. At least Paul might get something done for his district unlike Poe, who spends his time waiting for an appearance on one of the right-wing Fox News shows. Wait, is that a redundancy? Otherwise you can find Poe on the border trying shoo the Mexicans away.

The question is, who will run the race for Congress in our district? Will some new Republican emerge from the Brazosport area or perhaps even one from Galveston or Beaumont? Beaumont has long had a Yellow Dog Democrat streak, pushed along by a large organized labor population. A lot of that has, unfortunately, changed. There are capable Democrats right here in Jefferson County who could dip into that pool of wealthy trial lawyer moolah that exists in an area in which the judicial reform types have called “A Judicial Hellhole.” Such wealth couldn’t hurt any candidate for Congress in our neck of the woods. I have asked before why no real Democrat challenge against Poe was organized during the last election. I have yet to get an answer. Poe’s only opponent in 2010 was a Libertarian.

One of the names that immediately pops up as a possible Democratic candidate is former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson. The former Jefferson County Tax Assessor-Collector lost out during the anti-Democrat sweep during the past election when Lampson ran for the seat vacated by convicted former House GOP kingpin Tom DeLay. Another Democrat name I heard mentioned today was former Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith. There are other pols who could make a run, former Dem State Sen. David Bernsen, for one. Current Texas legislators, Democrat Rep. Joe Deshotel is a name to float, and since he became a turncoat last year, I guess you could also mention former Democrat-turned GOP Texas House Rep. Allan Ritter.

I have no idea the breadth of Democrat or GOP “talent” which lies in the new congressional district in counties such as Brazoria and Galveston. But if the congressional district holds up to judicial review we might see ourselves with a good-old Southeast Texas “whoop ass” which is something we haven”t seen in a long time in our area U.S. House races. Whomever it might be who ultimately ends up as my congressman, all I hope — whether the lawmaker is a “D” or a “R” — is that the person is a better representative than Ron Paul and Ted Poe.That, of course, isn’t a very high bar I realize.

For now, today at least, I can say: “Yippie-yi-yay!”

July 11, 2011July 11, 2011

Did rage ignite chain of events which led to a local cop’s death?

Taking the life of another human being is among the most difficult acts in life to fathom. There are certain exceptions such as war, self-defense, sheer accident or mercy although even many of those who kill another in such circumstances are forever left asking why such actions had to happen.

Rage, however precipitated, is among the most baffling reason for which one kills another. Perhaps when 30-year-old John Wesely Nero gets his day in court on capital murder charges will we find if rage or other matters caused him to assault relatives and lead police on a chase that ended with the death of a Beaumont, Texas police officer.

A probable cause affidavit issued prior to an arrest warrant charging Nero with capital murder stated 10-year Beaumont Police Department veteran Officer Bryan Mitchell Hebert was standing beside his patrol car in a turning lane in the 500 block of Dowlen Road sometime after 10 p.m. Saturday evening, July 9. Hebert was about to set out spikes used for deflating tires in car chases after other officers were chasing Nero’s SUV over a wide section of the city’s West End.

The affidavit describes the violent crash and subsequent police officer death that followed:

“As Nero approached Officer Hebert’s vehicle, which had its emergency lights operating, witnesses stated Nero made no attempt to slow his vehicle down, but instead directed his vehicle toward Officer Hebert’s clearly visible patrol vehicle which Officer Hebert was standing next to. Nero’s vehicle struck Officer Hebert’s vehicle and Officer Hebert.”

Hebert, 36, was taken to a local hospital but did not survive. Nero was seriously injured but his injuries were not classified as “life-threatening” by the police.

Police Chief Frank Coffin told local reporters that earlier that evening, Nero had been confronted by his sister and grandmother over alleged child pornography the suspect had been viewing. Nero allegedly assaulted the two relatives before leaving the residence in the 5900 block of Chisholm Trail, near State Highway 105. The affidavit states that Nero’s mother indicated the suspect threatened to kill everyone if the police were called.

Officers were called a second time to the residence after Nero returned but he left before police arrived. A car fitting the description of the SUV driven by Nero was found a short time later behind a Kohl’s department store about 1.5 miles from the Chisholm Trail residence. Nero fled upon seeing officers and led police on a chase that lasted about seven minutes, according to the arrest affidavit. The chase set in motion Hebert stopping to deploy the deflation spikes and what police say was a deliberate crash of Nero’s SUV into the patrol car and Hebert.

Nero was taken to a hospital and was listed in serious condition although police characterize his injuries as non life-threatening.

Language in the affidavit points out that Hebert was wearing his Beaumont Police Department uniform, badge and insignia, all of which were clearly visible. Texas Penal Code Section 19.03 says in the case of one charged with Capital Murder:

” … the person murders a peace officer or fireman who is acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the person knows is a peace officer or fireman … ”

Whether the fact that Hebert was standing near the trunk of his patrol car when it was struck head-on, and in the dark, leaves open a defense that Nero was just trying to hit the car and perhaps perpetrate a suicide by cop car. Or, Nero could always plead guilty.

Hebert was on the list to make sergeant, published reports said. The deceased officer, who resided in Lumberton, is single and survived by his parents, a sister, grandparents, other relatives and his German shepherd, Apollo. A 1993 graduate of Port Neches-Groves High School, he also graduated the regional police academy at Lamar Institute of Technology in Beaumont.

Some 17 Beaumont Police Department officers have died in the line of duty since the 1880s. The most recent was Officer Lisa Beaulieu, who was struck and killed while working a traffic accident in April 2007.

A personal note: I didn’t know Officer Hebert. I have seen him around and talked to him a few times. I may even have dealt with him adversely. But I have had relatives and a number of friends who were police officers as well as firefighter and paramedics, in regular life and in my professional life as a firefighter/EMT and later as a reporter. Several people whom I have known well died in the line of duty: Deputy Tom Sitton of the Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Department, who was shot and killed during a domestic call; Officer Charles Billeck, Corrigan, Tx, Police Department, who was killed in a head-on collision only a block away from me and I arrived just minutes after the tragic two-fatality accident happened; Officer James O’Brien, Temple, Tx, Police Department (formerly Corrigan PD), who died when his police motorcycle colided with a car; Capt. Ed Ivy, Nacogdoches Fire Department, who died of a heart attack while at a training session.

Now, perhaps of rage, another of those who serve to protect their communities is gone.

Such are dangerous jobs those have who protect life, limb and property, and if one has any appreciation for those who try to protect us they should at least give pause and think about what it is such folks do.

Services for Officer Hebert will be held at 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Beaumont Civic Center, 701 Main Street, near the police station. Burial will follow at Oak Bluff Cemetery in Port Neches, TX.

July 8, 2011July 8, 2011

Thanks Google, for yet another time-waster, uh 3D cheese modeler

Cheeses! Does the above remind you, at least a little bit, of a hunk of cheese? It doesn’t. Oh. You really know how to hurt a blogger’s feelings.

Well then, let’s just say the above is a piece of abstract art that I created, over the past hour, while playing with Google’s SketchUp 8. It’s a 3D modeling program that can create just about anything within the bounds of time and ability. While interfacing with Google Earth is a feature of SketchUp, it would seem that the program could create some sort of simple specialized map graphic. I say “it would seem,” because if you notice the pathetic attempt above to draw a piece of cheese above it seems like almost a dream to think I could create some kind of specialized graphic using Google Earth in concert with SketchUp.

Nonetheless, SketchUp is one of those interesting play things of the type I found on MacDraw or MacPaint, which was on my very first, very own desktop, a used Apple Macintosh. Wow, that brings back “computer memories,” which is a hard-to-believe concept for someone who remembers his family’s first TV set.

Anyway, I plan to play around some more with SketchUp to where I might actually find some use other than being a time-waster. That is not to say wasting time is a waste of time. Well it is a waste of time, but it’s … Sorry for wasting your time.