Living 2013 0214.pdf - The Examiner

MOVE Page 2 C

Feb. 14-20, 2013 • The Examiner • Section C

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TREATS COME TO TOWN

Girl Scout cookies arrive by the truckload

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Benefit for Todd Methvinat Courville’s on March 3

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By Kevin KingStaff Writer

First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” program is mov-ing into Beaumont. “Let’s Move!” which according to its website “is dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams,” was introduced at a Jan. 22 Beaumont City Council Meeting by Dr. Alan Cole-man, Mayor Pro Tem, Ward 1 Councilmember and local den-tist.

“The whole thing started at a National League of Cities meet-ing in Boston,” Coleman said. “It’s like a workshop for elected officials. I saw a program about childhood obesity and I’m into fitness, so I decided to go to that one.”

The National League of Cit-ies (NLC) is an American advo-cacy organization representing 19,000 cities, towns and villag-es, and encompasses 49 state municipal leagues. NLC pro-vides training to municipal offi-

cials, holds conferences, lob-bies and provides assistance to cities in educational issues. More than 175 cities, towns and counties are participating in Let’s Move! Cities, Towns and Counties (LMCTC).

Coleman said that the work-shop turned out to be an award ceremony, and that initially he was disappointed.

“The National League of Cities

gives awards for cities when you achieve certain levels,” he

said. “They have a bronze level, a silver lev-

el and a goal level for each of the five goals.”

The five goals, as defined by “Let’s Move!” are:

• Goal 1: Start Early, Start Smart – Promote good nutrition in childcare facilities to decrease the prevalence of obesity in young children.

• Goal 2: My Plate, Your Place – Choose healthier foods for building plates at meal times and choose healthier choices among the food groups.

• Goal 3: Smart Servings for Students- Provide healthy food in schools and commit to

increasing participation in the School Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Pro-gram.

• Goal 4: Model Food Ser-vice- Implement healthy and sustainable food service guide-lines in all city-owned food venues.

•Goal 5: Active Kids at Play – Increase physical activity by mapping local play spaces, completing a needs assessment, developing an action plan and launching a minimum of three programs aimed at increasing access to play.

Although initially disap-pointed, Coleman said that after listening in and discovering what the cities were doing to receive the awards, he realized Beaumont already had met many of the qualifications and should be eligible for awards as well. He met with a NLC repre-sentative and started reading out some of the health initia-tives that Beaumont already had in place to the representa-tive.

“She said, ‘You’re already halfway there,’” Coleman said.

In fact, in a Feb. 5 press release, the city of Beaumont

‘Let’s Move!’ Beaumont moving fast to implement program for childhood obesity

2 C LIVING THE EXAMINER • Feb. 14-20, 2013

announced that it had already earned two gold awards and two silver awards in five cate-gories for its actions to improve access to healthy, affordable food and increase opportunities for physical activity — includ-ing a gold award for increasing the physical activity of children, which is Goal 5.

“It only asks for three pro-grams aimed at increasing access to play,” Coleman said. “I got with Ryan Slott, (director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Beaumont), and we fig-ured out that we have 17.”

Beaumont received a gold award for Goal 4, Model Food Service, as well.

“We only have one place where we serve food, during the summer recreation program at the Sterling Pruitt Activity Cen-ter, and our vendor is USDA approved and is serving USDA level food. So we achieved that goal.”

The city earned a silver award for its plan to work on Goal 1, which involves promot-ing good nutrition at childcare facilities, Coleman said.

“We’ve got a taskforce already formed through the City of Beaumont Public Health Department, the fire depart-ment, Baptist Hospital and Christus Hospital and HEB,” he said.

Other future plans include holding a city-sponsored class for September or October. All the childcare providers in Beau-mont will be invited to attend and will be educated on proper nutrition for children. The class will also educate these facilities on fire safety, sanitation, and state laws regarding childcare.

“It’s a voluntary thing,” Coleman said. “But since there is going to be so much stuff happen-ing, they’re going to want to come. Once we have that meet-ing, we’ll plan it on an annual basis. That achieves (Goal 1).”

Coleman said that city officials plan to meet with Beaumont Independent School District next month to discuss the initiative.

“If you can get kids two good meals a day, that’s all we can control — either in school or at a childcare facility,” he said. “The partnership with

BISD is because they serve the kids breakfast and lunch. On our free lunch program, they’re doing very well. All of our schools have the breakfast pro-gram and 81 percent of our elementary and middle school kids participate in the breakfast program. The goal is 75 per-cent.”

Beaumont earned silver for Goal 3, which involves increas-ing participation in school breakfast and lunch programs. But Coleman said that BISD would have to work on the lunch programs if the city is to earn gold because only 61 per-cent of eligible students partici-

pate.“We’re going to

have try and find ways to get more kids to participate,” Coleman said. “I don’t know if it’s a peer pressure thing

because they want to skip lunch to be thin or if in some manner people can tell if the kid is eating a free lunch.”

One of the plans that the city is considering is starting a pub-lic service announcement pro-gram using local athletes and through the medium of the Lamar University communica-

tion department.Coleman said that parents

must provide good nutrition to their kids, as well. “We’re depending on the parents to give that third healthy meal,” he said.

The one remaining goal that Beaumont has not achieved is Goal 2 — prominently display-ing MyPlate in all municipal or county venues where food is served. Coleman said he is working Goal 2 by placing stickers on vending machines on city property.

“We’re placing stickers on (vending) machines that talk about good food choices,” he said. “Hopefully, someone doesn’t pick the Twinkies;

they’ll pick the crackers and peanut butter instead.”

The city of Beaumont is fol-lowing the lead of other U.S. cities including Charleston, S.C., Jackson, Tenn., and San Antonio, which have found success by using the program.

“It improves our health and it improves our quality of life in Beaumont,” he said.”

“Once they look at infra-structure, housing and transpor-tation and determine that it may be the same (as another candi-date city), they will then look at quality of life,” he said. “‘What do these cities provide our employees; what will make the difference?’ Beaumont is already a heart healthy city.”

To date, NLC has awarded 625 medals to local elected offi-cials across the country, recog-nizing these leaders for their progress in adopting long-term, sustainable, and holistic poli-cies that improve communities’ access to healthy affordable food and opportunities for physical activity. Each month forward, NLC is recognizing local elected officials who are achieving the LMCTC bench-marks by taking action to reduce childhood obesity.

“Local elected officials play a critical role in addressing childhood obesity in our coun-try and communities, and we commend those leaders being recognized for their achieve-ments in taking action to improve healthy eating and physical activity in their com-munities,” said NLC President Marie Lopez Rogers, mayor of Avondale, Ariz.

NLC is the lead collaborat-ing partner on this initiative, working with the U.S. Depart-ment of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Association of Counties and other nonprofit organizations in

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By Sharon BooksStaff Writer

Thin Mints, Caramel deLites, and Peanut Butter Patties are back! It’s that time of year again, and Girl Scouts locally and across the country are sell-ing their famous cookies. Saturday, Feb. 9, at around 9 a.m., local Girl Scouts from the Spindletop and Big Thicket service areas received a deliv-ery of 60,000 cookies at Wesley United Methodist Church in Beaumont.

Cookie managers Karen Griffin of the Girl Scouts of America (GSA) Big Thicket group and Mandy Ardoin from the GSA Spindletop group were onsite at the church when the big rig arrived loaded with boxes upon boxes of deli-cious cookies. The Big Thicket area includes Lumberton, Silsbee, Kountze and Buna, with Evadale soon to be represented. The Spindletop area is made up of Beaumont, Hampshire, Fannett and China.

“This is a really big day for us,” Ardoin said. “There are over 26,000 boxes for Spindletop, and the rest are going to the Big Thicket area.”

Lamar University fraternity mem-bers Keatric Bruno and Joseph Mukes from Kappa Alpha Psi, and James Posey, Jacob James, Matt Swain and

Adam Morrow from Kappa Alpha and Adam’s cousin Ryan Morrow were there to lend some helping hands to load boxes for folks coming by to pick up their cookie deliveries.

Brownie Mackenzie Graham from Troop 4435 was also on hand to offer her assistance.

“I’m always helping,” she said, smiling. “That’s what we do.”

“She loves to participate and help out,” Ardoin said.

“It is pretty amazing,” Linda Wall, scout mother and local media liaison for GSA, commented, looking at the cookie-laden pallets filling the tractor-trailer. “It’s a lot of hard work, but we have a lot of fun.”

Girl Scout cookie delivery at Wesley United Methodist

See COOKIE on page 4 C

helping local elected officials implement policy and environ-mental changes to prevent childhood obesity. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded NLC a grant to pro-vide technical assistance to elected officials working to cre-ate healthier communities and prevent childhood obesity, including sites participating in LMCTC.

According to the “Let’s Move!” website, “Over the past three decades, childhood obesi-ty rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are over-weight or obese. The numbers are even higher in African-American and Hispanic com-munities, where nearly 40 per-cent of the children are over-weight or obese.”

For more information visit www.letsmove.gov, www.healthycommunitieshealthyfu-ture.org and www.nlc.org.

Kevin King can be reached at (409) 832-1400, ext. 225, or by e-mail at [email protected].

MOVEfrom page 2 C

Girl Scout Brownie Mackenzie Gra-ham of Troop 4435

Girl Scout Troop 4298 with boxes of cookies


With a very few exceptions, I have used Microsoft Word as my word processor when writ-ing these columns. Tonight I am using LibreOffice Writer, a component of the newly released LibreOffice version 4.0.0.3, a totally free and open source competitor of Microsoft Office.

The Writer desktop looks very similar to the desktop used in Word, and all of the com-mands and shortcuts that I have been using with Word appear to work equally well with Writer. Anyone minimally familiar with Word should be able to immediately use Writer, as it has “zero learn-ing curve.” What is espe-cially interest-ing about this entire LibreOf-fice suite is not just its price (totally free), but the fact that it can read and write almost all of the office files used around the world, including word pro-cessor, spreadsheet, database, presentation, desktop publish-ing, and other types of office documents. LibreOffice also includes an “Export to PDF” feature on the File button on the menu bar, which can create perfect PDF files without the necessity of third-party PDF writing utilities.

LibreOffice (libreoffice.org) is aptly named “because it is a free (libre) office utility, and is an open source, comprehensive office suite that contains all of the components found in its expensive commercial compet-itors. For those who like to use office templates, add-ons, plug-ins, and other enhancements, the massive international com-munity of LibreOffice users

has created an extensive library of free supplements for the suite. Many of the founders of LibreOffice were on the staff of its older cousin, OpenOffice, when OpenOffice lost the majority of its support funding due to a change in ownership. LibreOffice contains updates, enhancements and features not found in its older open source cousin. The original OpenOf-fice grew out of a commercial dispute between Microsoft and Sun Microsystems, which resulted in Sun purchasing a German office suite, Star Office, and giving it away for free as OpenOffice in direct

competition to the expen-sive Micro-soft Office. IBM licensed OpenOffice and released it under the ban-ner Lotus S y m p h o n y. When Oracle took over

Sun, there were some disagree-ments over the future of Ope-nOffice and its employees, resulting in many of the employees leaving and using the OpenOffice source code (open source, which means not copyrighted), to create an updated and more competitive LibreOffice.

LibreOffice 4 was a 183mb download (Windows version) that installed quickly and with-out any annoying options to install toolbars, search engines and other irritants; it was a totally clean install process. An optional 7.9mb “HelpPack” (Windows version) provides integral, context sensitive help when needed. The Windows version of LibreOffice 4 will run under Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, and

has minimal hardware require-ments (256 mb RAM, 1.5 gb hard drive space, and 1024x768 minimum recommended screen resolution). Recent versions of Java may be required to utilize all of the features in Base, the LibreOffice database program. The Mac version of LibreOf-fice requires MacOSX 10.4 (Tiger) or higher, 512 mb RAM, 800 mb available hard disk space and a 1024x768 graphic display with 256 colors (higher resolution recommend-ed). For Mac computers, Java may also be necessary to utilize the Base database program. Some special steps might be necessary to install LibreOffice on Macs running MacOS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion), and these steps are shown on the “system requirements” page at libreoffice.org/download/sys-tem-requirements. LibreOffice is also available for computers running almost all iterations of Linux including Debian, Ubun-tu, Fedora, Mandriva, Suse, and others.

Sometimes, it is convenient or necessary for a user to carry his own portable software and files on a USB flash drive, or similar device. LibreOffice has a fully functional portable ver-sion (100 mb download) that includes a word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation tool (Impress, a PowerPoint competitor), draw-ing package (Drawing) and database (Base). Each of these is “packaged” to run in the standardized “PortableApps” utility, or run by itself from a USB flash drive, in the cloud, or from a local drive. As a fully functional portable office utili-ty, users can take all documents along with everything they need to work with them wher-ever they goes. As are all of the other forms of LibreOffice, this

portable version is free (libre-office.org/download/portable). I downloaded the portable ver-sion, installed it to a flash drive, and it worked flawlessly.

As I am typing this right now on Writer, the Microsoft Word competitor, I have not encountered any issues, as the look and feel of LibreOffice Writer are almost identical to Microsoft Word. One differ-ence between LibreOffice 4 and Microsoft Office 2010 is the menu ribbon used in Office 2007 and 2010 is absent, while LibreOffice 4 by default uses the more traditional menu bar as used in earlier versions of Office such as Office 2003. LibreOffice surveyed its users and found an almost perfect 50/50 split between those who preferred the classic menus to the newer Office 2010 ribbon menu. For those who prefer the more modern looking Office 2010 ribbon, several free add-ons are available that mimic the ribbon style.

I use Microsoft PowerPoint on a daily basis in my classes and for my external presenta-tions; using the PC installed

version of LibreOffice, I opened several of my Power-Point presentations, created on either PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint 2010, with Libre-Office 4 Impress. Both PPT and PPTX PowerPoints opened and played perfectly with Impress, including all of the slide transitions and anima-tions. Since I carry backup cop-ies of my PowerPoints on my USB flash drive when I do external presentations, the por-table version of Impress could easily be utilized to play the slide show if the provided com-puter either has an older ver-sion of Office or no Office at all. In terms of desktop appear-ance, the Impress window looked exactly like PowerPoint 2003 but had all of the features of PowerPoint 2010.

I use Office Excel for sev-eral types of record keeping, both at home and at work. To perform a quick test of compat-ibility between the LibreOffice Calc with files created with Excel 2010 (.xlsx) and Excel 2003 (.xls), I loaded Calc and

Free competitor to Microsoft Office

Ira Wilsker

Technology

Web siteswww.libreoffice.org

www.libreoffice.org/download/system-requirementsen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_office

According to the nutrition guide for the cookies, the treats have no trans fat. The Thanks-A-Lot and Thin Mints are now vegan, and GSA recently introduced a new cookie. The Mango Cremes are vanilla and coconut cookies filled with a tangy mango-flavored crème enhanced with Nutrifusion, which is described on GSA’s website as nutrients derived from fruits.

Wall said there is still time to order cookies. The deadline is March 23. You can order boxes

of your favorites by calling (409) 832-0556, ext. 102, or going to GSA’s website at www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cookies/how_to_buy.asp to find out how to get cookies in your area. You can also add an app to you phone to find cookie booths near you. Wall said the cookie booths will be open on weekends at participating locations. So far, she said Walmart, HEB, Walgreens, Old Navy and Lowe’s will host the booths on upcoming weekends.

See TECH on page 5 C

COOKIEfrom page 3 C

Kappa Alpha and Kappa Alpha Psi members load cookies.


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opened a variety of Excel files. With Calc, all of the Excel files opened, maintaining all colors, fonts, graphics, formulas, spac-ing and other characteristics of the original Excel files. As do all of the other LibreOffice components, spreadsheet files created in the dozens of spread-sheet formats used around the world, including all of the Microsoft formats, can be opened in Calc.

Base is the LibreOffice data-base utility, which, like all of the other LibreOffice compo-nents, can read and write other database-formatted files. Base integrates seamlessly with the other LibreOffice components, and can also be used as a free-standing database utility. Linked tables and queries from MySQL, PostgreSQL and Microsoft Access can be imported, or users can design their own in Base. Support is built in or easily addable for a wide range of other database products, including HSQL, MySQL, Adabas D, Microsoft Access and PostgreSQL.

Draw and Math are two LibreOffice utilities that add enhanced capabilities over Microsoft Office. Draw allows the user to create diagrams and sketches ranging from simple images to dynamic 3D illustra-tions with special effects. Math is an equation editor that lets users lay out and display math-ematical, chemical, electrical or scientific equations quickly and in standard written nota-tion. Users of Microsoft Pub-lisher and Visio can easily import documents created with those products into LibreOffice using free import filters. An import filter for LibreOffice Draw opens Microsoft Office Publisher files, while another Draw import filter can open all Visio files ranging from the original 1992 Visio 1.0 format to the latest Visio 2013 files.

For anyone, from students at all levels to businesses and oth-er agencies or enterprises, LibreOffice 4 is the way to go for those who want all of the features and usability of the expensive Microsoft Office suite without the expense, as LibreOffice explicitly means “Free Office.”

Listen to Ira Wilsker’s weekly radio show on Mondays from 6-7 p.m. on KLVI 560AM.


Pulse, Lamar University’s student-created literary maga-zine, has released its 60th edi-tion. Sponsored by the Depart-ment of English and Modern Languages, the magazine con-tains poetry and prose by stu-dents from a variety of disci-plines on campus. The maga-zine is funded by donations from patrons of the arts.

R.S. “Sam” Gwynn, professor of English and modern languag-es, said Pulse is an essential nur-turing ground for young writers.

“For more than half a century, Pulse has repre-sented Lamar’s commitment to the literary arts,” he said. “We can be proud of published authors like Leon Stokesbury, a1968 Lamar alumnus whose work first appeared in its pag-es. Other participants, like Amber Rigney, a 1998 alum-na, have gone on to important editorial positions.”

Garry Richards of Port Neches, Pulse editor and Eng-lish graduate student at Lamar, said Pulse showcases work from students of different disciplines.

“I had the opportu-nity to see a lot of bud-ding writers from all over campus,” he said. “It is good to see we have good writers not just in the English department, but all over cam-pus. For students, it is a great opportunity to have an author credit in a publication. Those sorts of things look great in

This time of year, we are all looking for some greenery to add to our vases for a little cheer in the house. Why go buy greenery when you prob-ably have some in your own yard. How about using the classic greenery of asparagus fern?

The asparagus fern is the voluminous greenery we’ve all seen gracing large urns and pots in the South. If you don’t want to bring in the whole garden pot, just clip some because this fern will reward a good haircut with even more abundant growth.

This hardy plant is good for contained areas where the sun beats down all day. It will also tolerate semi-shade. You can even grow it indoors if you choose.

The asparagus fern is from the family Liliacaea (lil-ee-AY-see-ee) and isn’t even really a fern at all. It is a member of the huge lily fam-ily and masquerading as a fern. You may know the asparagus fern by other names such as springerei asparagus, ornamental asparagus or ground asparagus. Close cousins are the foxtail fern (similar but with a “fluffy tail” look at the end of fronds)

and the emerald fern (again similar, but with needle-like stems in dense clusters).

The asparagus fern is native to South Africa. Some gardeners in Florida think of the plant as very hard to con-trol and treat it like a weed. Most Southeast Texas gar-deners call it a year-round “trooper.” We usually don’t have problems with this Lili-acaea being invasive.

The evergreen perennial has 2 to 6 foot long arching, green stems that look like feathery leaves. It can get 2 to 3 feet tall and wide. In summer it has small white flowers that are followed by colored berry clusters in the early fall.

The asparagus fern and its close relatives are good plants to try this time of year because they tolerate most all extremes of temperature. If we ever have a hard freeze, it could die down to the ground and spring back up with warmer temperatures.

They prefer full sun to partial shade. Yellowing braches (chlorosis) tell you that the plant is getting too much shade. Dropping leaves tell you that you are over-overwatering. If you want to bring them in and put them in a vase with other flowers, remember to remove foliage that will be under water.

In your yard this week, try to spend at least 15 minutes cleaning out just one area for that wonderful weather we have just around the corner. You’ll be glad you did.

Joette is an avid gardener and prides herself on staying up-to-date on the latest garden-ing activities and tips. To share your gardening news with Joette, call (409) 832-1400 or fax her at (409) 832-6222. Her e-mail is [email protected].

Asparagus fern can take the heat, cold

LU English department’s Pulse celebrates 60 years

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resumes and curricula vitae.”Richards said the depart-

ment plans an event at 7 p.m. March 4 in the Spindletop Room, on the eighth floor of the Mary and John Gray Library, to celebrate the con-tributors and winners of the contests that Pulse sponsors

for each edi-tion. “There are a handful of awards for graduate and undergraduates in formal and n o n - f o r m a l poetry, fiction and critical writing,” he said. “The win-ners are chosen by the faculty.”

Winners for this edition are Quinton Gaines

of Beaumont for best under-graduate free verse, Donald Case of Point for best under-graduate formal poem, Exam-iner staff writer Kevin King of Vidor for best undergraduate prose, and Tara Tatum of Beaumont for both the free verse and formal graduate poem categories. Alaina Bray of Hamshire won best critical

essay. Ashley Cook of Port Arthur, Adam Gorrel of Bridge City and John Jash-inksi of Silsbee received Lamar-Longman Awards for best freshman criti-cal essay. Jashinski won a second Lamar-Longman Award for an additional essay.

The department issues four Lamar-Longman Awards each year.

Copies of Pulse are avail-able at a variety of locations on campus including the Mary and John Gray Library and the Setzer Student Center.

For more information con-tact the English department at 880-8558, or e-mail Pulse at [email protected].

King


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By Clay ThorpStaff Writer

After a year’s worth of hard work and determination, Southeast Texas has another Eagle Scout ready to take on the world.

Hunter Kilgo-re, 18, of Troop 85 of St. Anne’s Home School Association has completed his Eagle Scout court of honor after a board approved his project and other require-ments to receive the high-est honor bestowed by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).

Kilgore removed and replaced 150 feet of wooden fence for the Floyd and Hazel Mack Scout Foundation. Kilgore also removed shrubs, trees and other debris from the fence line before digging new fence posts and erecting a new fence.

“I felt like I needed to give back to an organization that has given me so much,” Kilgo-re said of his project at the local BSA office.

Although the scout spent at least $800 up front on materi-als and tools, Kilgore eventu-ally raised more than $2,000, donating the remaining $1000 to a fund for aspiring Eagle Scouts.

“A lot of local businesses helped me out a lot,” he said. “M&D (Supply) gave a lot.”

Had it not been for the gen-erosity of local donors and the manpower of his fellow scouts, Kilgore said the proj-ect would have been even tougher. Having helped his fellow scouts on their Eagle Scout projects, he said getting workers was easy.

“I tried to help everybody along the way,” he said, refer-ring to other Eagle Scout proj-ects Kilgore participated in. “So when I asked for help, there was no hesitation.”

Having recently graduated from Kelly High School, Kilgore said he has big plans

to be a CEO of a major corpo-ration.

“Hopefully next year I’ll be attending LSU,” Kilgore said,

adding he plans to study business.

“I’ve just got big dreams,” he

said.Still young

and with time to decide his f u t u r e , Kilgore said he might have plans for

work at a leg-islature near

you.“I’ve been told I

have the skills to be a politician or maybe even a lobbyist,” he said. “But I don’t know. I’ll just see where it takes me.”

Clay Thorp can be reached at (409) 832-1400, ext. 225, or by e-mail at [email protected].

Eagle Scout has big plans for future


James Broussard retirement

Veteran educator James Broussard has announced his retirement effective Feb. 15. Broussard is principal of Ozen High Magnet School for the Arts. With more than 35 years in education, Broussard’s expe-rience ranges from his first day in 1977 as a teacher and coach at Odom Middle School. Over the years, he advanced to posi-tions ranging from teaching and coaching at Marshall Mid-dle School and West Brook High to management at the transportation department and assistant principal and principal at Martin Elementary School. He was appointed principal at Ozen in 2004.

“Working for BISD has been wonderful,” said Broussard, add-ing that he is thankful to parents and the community for all the many years they entrusted their children to his care and tutelage. “My greatest pleasures in the nearly four decades of education have been the phenomenal chil-dren, my students. Investing in them continues to be the gift that keeps on giving,” he said.

“With seven grandchildren, my hands will be full during my retirement. Spending more time with family will be the best part. There will be a lot of hunting and fishing, too,” Broussard said. Another spe-cial activity planned for his retirement future will be vol-unteering to help senior citi-zens in home repairs since Broussard also considers him-self a pretty good carpenter.

Superintendent Dr. Timothy Chargois said he is “apprecia-tive of the work Broussard has done over the years in education here at BISD. He has impacted the educational growth of tens of thousands of students. For me, that means he has impacted more than a community, as edu-cators are known for doing, he has impacted the world. I wish him well in his retirement.”

Family Services celebrates SETX families

For more than 80 years, Family Services of Southeast Texas has been working to strengthen families. Thursday,

Feb. 28, the agency will cele-brate four special honorees who share Family Services’ commitment to strong families at the 11th annual Celebrate Families Luncheon.

The luncheon, which will be held at the MCM Elegan-tee, will recognize Dr. and Mrs. Jimmy Simmons as Family of the Year. Not only have Jimmy and Susan Simmons made a permanent impact on the lives of their three children, but they have also touched the lives of thousands of young adults through 14 years of outstand-ing leadership as the “first family” of Lamar University.

Southeast Texans have undoubtedly benefited from this year’s Family Business of the Year, Texas Coffee Com-pany. Started in 1921 by Charles J. Fertitta, Texas Cof-fee Company’s products such as TexJoy Seasoning and Sea-port Coffee have been house-hold staples for several decades. And while the com-pany has experienced vast suc-cess, it is still proud of its rich heritage and deep roots.

Beaumont Police Depart-ment’s Family Violence Unit will be recognized as the Bill Leger Family Advocate of the Year. The award, which is being renamed this year in memory of past Family Ser-vices board president and strong advocate for domestic violence victims, Bill Leger, will honor the Family Vio-lence Unit’s tireless dedication to breaking the cycle of domestic violence and ensur-ing that Southeast Texas is a safe place for all families.

The 2013 Family Services Volunteer of the Year has also played a powerful role in breaking the cycle of domestic violence. The Southeast Texas Foster Grandparent Program participants selflessly give of their time to operate a play-room at Family Services Women and Children’s Shel-ter, where they carefully super-vise and lovingly interact with children while mothers focus on important tasks, such as using the shelter’s computer lab to search for employment.

Tickets for the upcoming

event are $40 and can be pur-chased by calling (409) 833-2668, ext. 115. All proceeds from the luncheon go to bene-fit the programs of Family

Services of South-east Texas Inc., a nonprofit organiza-tion working to strengthen families, individuals and the community through services at Family Services Counsel-ing Center and Family Services Women and Chil-

dren’s Shelter. For more infor-mation about Family Services or its programs, visit www.WeStrengthenFamilies.org.

Nature Conservancy plants 5,000 new longleaf pines

The Nature Conservancy recently completed a tree planting project at the Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary in Silsbee in collaboration with the Apache Corporation and volunteers from St. Michael’s College.

More than 5,000 longleaf pine seedlings were planted in areas of the preserve that will benefit from reforestation. Some areas planted were open-ings as the result of hurricanes in 2005 and 2008.

“The Nature Conservancy is truly grateful to the Apache Corporation, which provided the funding for the seedlings, and the students from St. Michael’s College in Vermont, who travel to the Big Thicket each year to dedicate their spring break to conservation,” said Wendy Jo Ledbetter, for-est program manager for The Nature Conservancy in Texas. Students of St. Michael’s have been assisting The Nature Conservancy and other resource managers with con-servation projects for the past seven years.

Once the dominant pine for-est of the southern U.S., long-leaf forests have been reduced from 90 million acres to less than 3 percent of their original range. The Nature Conservan-cy and the Apache Corpora-tion are among several part-ners in the public and private sector working together to

restore these forests, which provide habitat for wildlife, fiber products, and a host of recreational benefits for visi-tors and neighboring commu-nities.

The Sandyland Sanctuary, a 5,654-acre preserve, is open to the public for hiking and nature study. For more infor-mation, go to www.nature.org/texas.

This Valentine’s Day, don’t be a catfish!

Valentine’s Day is a day for romance, but it can also be an opportune time for scammers to take advantage of those look-ing for love online. Better Busi-ness Bureau is urging consum-ers to proceed with caution before letting their hearts – and their money – get stolen.

Perhaps you’ve seen the documentary “Catfish,” or the MTV reality show of the same name. The Urban Dictionary defines a catfish as “someone who pretends to be someone they’re not using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances.”

Relationship scams can happen to anyone. You meet a great person online, every-thing seems to be going great but you aren’t able to meet yet for some reason (distance, mil-itary deployment, work travel, etc.). Suddenly your online love interest has an emergency and asks you to wire money. If you do, he or she may contin-ue to find more reasons to ask for money from you ... or may disappear. Sometimes the cat-fish’s victim is asked to receive

funds from the victim of another scam and rewire it to the catfish.

BBB and Western Union have partnered to offer con-sumers tips on how to avoid scams. Here are some ways to stay safe from relationship scams:

Be on your guard. Only send money to people you have met in person. Be espe-cially cautious with people you meet online, even if you correspond with them via e-mail or phone. Be especially wary of anyone who asks you to leave the dating Web site immediately to continue your conversation through e-mail or IM, as this allows fraudsters to carry out their scam without the dating site having a record of your encounter.

Be cautious if someone claims to be local but is cur-rently out of the country. Fraudsters could be operating from overseas, making it more difficult for authorities to track them down. Never give your banking information to people that you have not met in per-son or businesses that you don’t know.

Always verify every emer-gency situation before sending money. Fraudsters can trick their victims in a variety of ways. Sometimes they instant-ly express feelings of love and other times they lead their vic-tims on for a while. No matter how much your relationship might seem like the real thing, you should be suspicious if someone starts asking for information like credit card, bank or government ID num-bers or to send money.

For more information on scams, check out BBB Scam Stopper at www.bbb.org/scam.

Community Listings


Michele BrookeAuto Writer

For 2013, Dodge Challeng-er delivers a powerful and effi-cient engine lineup, iconic design and a starting MSRP of $27,295.

Under the hoodsFor the enthusiast, the 2013

Dodge Challenger R/T, R/T Plus and R/T Classic models feature the legendary 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 engine that delivers up to 375 horse-

power, 410 pound-feet of torque and an average of 16 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway.

The Dodge Challenger R/T, R/T Plus and R/T Classic mod-els with this V8 engine and the optional five-speed automatic transmission produce 372 horse-power and 400 pound-feet of torque and include innovative Fuel Saver Technology to tran-sition to high-fuel-economy four-cylinder mode when less power is needed and V-8 mode

when more power is in demand.For the Dodge Challenger

SXT, SXT Plus and Rallye Red-line models, the standard engine is a 3.6-liter V-6, which features 305 horsepower at 6,350 rpm and 268 pound-feet of torque at 4,800 rpm. The fuel economy ratings for this V6 engine are 18 mpg in the city and 27 mpg on the highway.

Model lineup: Challenger SXT

Starting off the lineup is the 2013 Dodge Challenger SXT model, which is well equipped for the driver looking for icon-ic styling and value (MSRP: $27,295).

On the inside, Challenger SXT features include a six-speaker audio system, automat-

ic climate control; chromed-interior door han-

dles; premium soft-touch instrument panel, armrest and door pan-els; LED-illuminated cup holders and courte-sy lamps; and premium cloth seats with accent stitching.

Challenger SXT PlusFor drivers who want

even more connectivity, com-fort and convenience features, the 2013 Dodge Challenger SXT Plus (MSRP $27,795) adds premium Nappa leather seats, SiriusXM Radio with 12-month subscription, six Boston Acoustics premium speakers with 276 watt ampli-fier, and more.

Challenger Rallye RedlineThe 2013 Challenger Rallye

Redline model (MSRP $29,695) includes a signature red stripe with two thin side stripes, body-color deck-lid spoiler and 20-inch black chrome wheels.

R/T ClassicDesigned for the Dodge

enthusiast who wants perfor-mance with even more nostalgic cues, the 2013 Dodge Challenger R/T Classic (MSRP $33,995) adds dual bodyside R/T stripes in

matte black or white, large 20-inch aluminum “Envy” wheels or available forged “Heri-tage” wheels, “Challenger” fend-er badges in classic script, heri-tage “R/T” grille badge, func-tional hood scoops and more.

Challenger R/TThe 2013 Dodge Challeng-

er R/T (MSRP $31,090) builds off the SXT and adds the leg-endary 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 engine, “R/T” grille badge, “HEMI” hood badges, rear body-color deck-lid spoiler and more.

Challenger R/T PlusNext, there’s the 2013

Dodge Challenger R/T Plus (MSRP $33,090), which adds premium Nappa leather seat-ing, six Boston Acoustics pre-mium speakers with 276-watt amplifier, and more.

11 CHRYSLER 200

11 FORD F150

11 JEEP LIBERTY

10 CHRYSLER 300

12 FORD F150

07 DODGE DURANGO

Iconic Coupe2013 Dodge Challenger

See AUTO on page 11 C


Contained within Abraham Lin-coln’s famous “House Divided Speech,” delivered to the Republican Convention on April 16, 1856, is the imperative for data analytics and per-formance auditing by healthcare pro-viders today. Lincoln said, “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it.”

In the foreword to “Churchill: The Prophetic Statesman,” by James C. Humes, David Eisenhower wrote, “In any human enterprise, if the partici-pants are unwilling to objectively and honestly face where they are, it is improbable that they will ever get to where they want to be, let alone to where they should be.”

These two quotes serve as the intro-duction to a note to SETMA providers that includes the daily audit of provider performance. SETMA is committed to improving the quality of healthcare and we believe that quality metrics are one of the keys to that improvement.

Quality metricsNo one would argue that quality

metrics, whether process or outcomes, are the only solution to healthcare improvement and cost control. Those who grapple with the design of quality metrics use scientific methodology and a growing body of medical literature on quality metrics to look for leverage points in identifying potential for real change in healthcare-delivery process-es, which will reflect real change in the quality of patient health. Unfortunate-ly, quality metrics are not static such that once you identify one metric that it will have permanent relevance to quality improvement. Once processes are in place, such that the outcomes are virtually totally dependent upon the process, rather than healthcare provid-er performance, new metrics must be found to move the system further toward excellence.

A single quality metric for a com-plex disease process will have little if any impact upon patient safety and health. And, all quality metrics of val-ue should point to treatment change which will improve patient health. Though a single metric is of extremely limited value, a “cluster,” or a “gal-axy” of quality metrics can effect real change in healthcare quality and in patient health. A “cluster” is defined as a group of quality metrics (seven or more) which define quality treatment standards in both process and out-comes for a single disease process.

“Comprehensive quality measures” for diabetes are a good illustration.

A “galaxy” of quality measures is a group of “clusters” which relate to the health of a single patient. When “com-prehensive quality measures” for dia-betes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, CHF, Chronic Stable Angina, Cardio-

metabolic Risk Syndrome, Chron-ic Renal Disease Stage 1-III and then Stages IV-ESRD are identi-fied and measured for a single patient, the successful meeting of those metrics, which

may exceed 50 in number, WILL reflect quality treatment and WILL result in improved health.. And, often the standardization of care based on quality metrics will decrease the cost of quality care.

When confronted with the results of quality care audits, physicians will often say, “But, that will take a two-hour visit for each patient.” That would be the case if providers were using paper records. In fact, two hours by paper may not be enough time to accomplish quality care. However, with electronic patient management, via a well-designed electronic patient record, and with a well-trained and highly functioning healthcare team, this “galaxy” of metrics can be met within the time and economic con-straints which currently existent in healthcare in the United States.

How can quality metrics effect quality care?

While quality metrics will always reflect quality, they will not always effect quality, unless they are transpar-ent to the healthcare provider at the time and point of a patient encounter. A “report card” delivered retrospectively, six months to two years after the care event which was measured, will have absolutely no impact on provider behavior. But, if the provider is able to “see” his/her performance at the time of the patient encounter, behavior will begin to change. And, if the panel or population a single provider manages, or participates in managing, has data aggregated daily, monthly, quarterly and annually, treatment inertia can be overcome. And, finally, when that pro-vider’s performance is publicly pub-lished by provider name, treatment inertia will disappear.

Quality Metrics PhilosophySETMA’s approach to quality met-

rics and public reporting is driven by

these assumptions:1. Quality metrics are not an end in

themselves. Optimal health at optimal cost is the goal of quality care. Quality metrics are simply “sign posts along the way.” They give directions to health. And the metrics are like a healthcare “Global Positioning Ser-vice”: it tells you where you want to be; where you are, and how to get from here to there.

2. The auditing of quality metrics gives providers a coordinate of where they are in the care of a patient or a population of patients.

3. Statistical analytics are like coor-dinates along the way to the destina-tion of optimal health at optimal cost. Ultimately, the goal will be measured by the well-being of patients, but the guide posts to that destination are giv-en by the analysis of patient and patient-population data.

4. There are different classes of quality metrics. No metric alone pro-vides a granular portrait of the quality of care a patient receives, but all together, multiple sets of metrics can give an indication of whether the patient’s care is going in the right direction or not. Some of the catego-ries of quality metrics are: access, outcome, patient experience, process, structure and costs of care.

5. The collection of quality metrics should be incidental to the care patients are receiving and should not be the object of care. Consequently, the design of the data aggregation in the care process must be as non-intrusive as possible. Notwithstanding, the very act of collecting, aggregating and reporting data will tend to create a Hawthorne effect.

6. The power of quality metrics, like the benefit of the GPS, is enhanced if the healthcare provider and the patient are able to know the coordinates while care is being received.

7. Public reporting of quality met-rics by provider name must not be a novelty in healthcare but must be the standard. Even with the acknowledg-ment of the Hawthorne effect, the improvement in healthcare outcomes achieved with public reporting is real.

8. Quality metrics are not static. New research and improved models of care will require updating and modify-ing metrics.

Limitations of quality metricsThe New York Times Magazine on

May 2, 2010, published an article titled, “The Data-Driven Life,” which asked the question, “Technology has made it feasible not only to measure our most basic habits but also to evalu-ate them. Does measuring what we eat

or how much we sleep or how often we do the dishes change how we think about ourselves?” Further, the article asked, “What happens when technolo-gy can calculate and analyze every quotidian thing that happened to you today?” Does this remind you of Ein-stein’s admonition, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be count-ed?”

Technology must never blind us to the human. Bioethicis Onora O’Neill commented about our technological obsession with measuring things. In doing so, she echoes the Einstein dic-tum that not everything that is counted counts. She said, “In theory again the new culture of accountability and audit makes professionals and institutions more accountable for good perfor-mance. This is manifest in the rhetoric of improvement and rising standards, of efficiency gains and best practices, of respect for patients and pupils and employees. But beneath this admirable rhetoric, the real focus is on perfor-mance indicators chosen for ease of measurement and control rather than because they measure accurately what the quality of performance is.”

Technology can deal with disease but cannot produce health

In our quest for excellence, we must not be seduced by technology with its numbers and tables. This is particular-ly the case in healthcare. In the future of medicine, the tension - not a conflict but a dynamic balance - must be prop-erly maintained between humanity and technology. Technology can contribute to the solving of many of our disease problems but ultimately cannot solve the “health problems” we face. The entire focus and energy of “health home” is to rediscover the trusting bond between patient and provider. In the “health home,” technology becomes a tool to be used and not an end to be pursued. The outcomes of technology alone are not as satisfying as those where trust and technology are properly balanced in healthcare delivery.

Our grandchildren’s generation will experience healthcare methods and possibilities which seem like science fiction to us today. Yet, that technology risks decreasing the value of our lives, if we do not in the midst of technology retain our humanity. As we celebrate science, we must not fail to embrace the minister, the ethicist, the humanist, the theologian, indeed the ones who remind us that being the bionic man or women will not make us more human, but it seriously risks causing us to

Abraham Lincoln and modern healthcare

Your Life, Your Health

James Holly, M.D.

See HOLLY on page 19 C


Jimmy Kaiser, David Lee Kaiser, Bryce Shaver, Spen-cer Marks, Kenny Wilmore Inman and Jamie Talbert and will headline an afternoon of music, food and auctions Sunday, March 3, from 1-6 p.m. as the community rallies to support Todd Methvin. Originally scheduled to be held at Courville’s, due to overwhelming response it has been moved to the larger Knights of Columbus hall down the block at 9505 Col-lege St.

Methvin is a Fannett resi-dent currently in the CCICU at St. Luke’s Hospital in Houston awaiting a heart transplant after being placed on the approved list in late January. He has been dealing with his heart condition for some time and had a pace-maker implanted, but it’s not doing the job. His consider-able medical expenses are mounting, and his health insurance has run out.

Methvin and his wife, Angela, have three children. They operate Code Blue Police Supply in Beaumont and have many friends in law enforcement. A 1989 gradu-ate of West Brook High School, Todd is known as a genuine and caring person always willing to help others, and people are responding now that he needs help.

In addition to the popular musicians performing at the March 3 benefit, there will be a raffle with a $10 ticket giv-ing you a chance at one of five prizes: an iPad2, Xbox 360, a session at the Christus Spa, a rifle, and valuable coins. Other items will be offered at both a live auction and a silent auction, with more raffles and a bake sale

to be held the day of the event.

If the food is from Cour-ville’s, you know it will be good. For $10 you can feast on a bowl of gumbo, potato salad and a non-alcoholic drink that can also be pack-aged to go.

Those unable to attend can send donations to the Todd Methvin Medical Fund at Texas First Bank in Fannett, 16831 Texas 124, Beaumont, TX 77705.

Heart SoundsBenefit for Todd Methvin at Courville’s on March 3

Todd Methvin and family

Jimmy Kaiser

Bryce Shaver

Dodge Challenger wins ‘Shopper’s Choice Award’

Representing the voices of millions of shoppers who visit Cars.com, the Dodge Chal-lenger beat out nine other domestic and import finalists, ranging from small cars to larger SUVs and trucks, to be named the “Shopper’s Choice” of 2012.

The top 10 finalists for the Shopper’s Choice Award were selected based on shoppers’ actions on the site that indi-cated interest in new vehicles,

including searching for vehi-cles, sending inquiries to deal-ers on availability and filling out a positive review of their vehicle. The Dodge Challeng-er took home the title after grabbing the most votes from Cars.com Facebook fans in the final round of the competition.

•••You can learn more about

2013 Dodge Challenger – built at Chrysler Group LLC’s Brampton, Ontario, Canada assembly plant – by visiting your local Southeast Texas deal-er or logging on to www.dodge.com.

AUTOfrom page 9 C


For solutions, see page 19 C

Find the 7 words to match the 7 clues. The numbers in parentheses represent the number of letters in each solution. Each letter combinaion can be used only once, but all the letter combinations will be necessary to complete the puzzle.

CHUCK SHEPHERD’S

WEIRDThe Redneck Chronicles (Tennessee Edition)

(1) Timothy Crabtree, 45, of Rog-ersville, was arrested in October and charged with stabbing his son, Brandon, 21, in an argument over who would get the last beer in the house. (2) Tricia Moody, 26, was charged with DUI in Knoxville in January after a 10-minute police chase. The officer’s report noted that Moody was still holding a cup of beer and apparently had not spilled any during the chase. (3) Jerry Poe, 62, was charged in a road-rage incident in Clinton on Black Friday after firing his handgun at a driver in front of him “to scare her into moving” faster, he said. (Poe said he had start-ed at midnight at one Wal-Mart, waited in line unsuccessfully for five hours for a sale-priced stereo, and was on his way to another Wal-Mart.

One for the RoadCliché Come to Life: The Kerry, Ireland,

county council voted in January to let some people drive drunk. The councillors reasoned that in the county’s isolated regions, some seniors live alone and need the camaraderie of the pub, but fear a DUI arrest on the way home. The councillors thus empowered police to issue DUI permits to those targeted drivers. Besides, reasoned the councillors, the area is so sparsely populated that such drivers never encounter anyone else on the road at night. (The councillors’ beneficence might also have been influenced, reported BBC News, by the fact that “several” of the five voting “yea” own pubs.)

Can’t Possibly Be True• Spare the Waterboard, Spoil the Child:

William Province, 42, was arrested in Jefferson County, Mont., in December and charged with waterboarding four boys, two of whom were his own sons, at his home in December. (Also in January, Kirill Bartashevitch, 52, was charged with making “terroristic” threats to his high-school-age daughter after he allegedly pointed his new AK-47 at her because her report card showed 2 B’s instead of all A’s. He said he had recently purchased the gun because he feared that President Obama intended to ban them.)

• Emma Whittington, of Hutchinson, Kan., rushed her daughter to the ER in December when the girl, 7 months old, developed a golf-ball-sized lump on her neck. Two days later, at

a hospital in Wichita, a doctor gently pulled a feather out of the lump and hypothesized that it had been in the midst of emerging from her

throat. Doctors said the girl prob-ably swallowed the feather acci-dentally, that it got stuck in throat

tissue, and that her body was try-ing to eject it through the skin.

• As if 9/11 and the resultant air travel restrictions had never hap-pened, travelers for some reason continue to keep Transportation Security Administration agents busy at passengers’ carry-on bag search-es. From a TSA weekly summary of confiscations in January: 33 hand-guns, eight stun guns and a serrated wire garrote. Among highlights from

2012: a live 40mm grenade, a live blast-ing cap, “seal bombs” and six pounds of black power (with detonation cords and a timing fuse).

• A man with admittedly limited English skills went to a courthouse in Springfield, Mass., in December to address a traffic ticket, but somehow wound up on a jury trying Don-ald Campbell on two counts of assault. Offi-cials said the man simply got in the wrong line and followed jurors into a room while the real sixth juror had mistakenly gone to another room. The jury, including the accidental juror, found Campbell guilty, but he was awarded a new trial when the mistake was discovered.

Sounds Like a JokeTwin brothers Aric Hale and Sean Hale, 28,

were both arrested on New Year’s Eve in Man-chester, Conn., after fighting each other at a hotel and later at a residence. Police said a 27-year-old woman was openly dating the two men, and that Sean thought it was his turn and asked Aric for privacy. Aric begged to differ about whose turn it was.

Unclear on the Concept• Voted in December as vice presidents of

the U.N. Human Rights Council for 2013 were the nations of Mauritania and the Maldives, both of which permit the death penalty for renouncing Islam. In Mauritania, a person so charged has three days to repent for a lesser sentence. (An August 2012 dispatch in Lon-don’s The Guardian reported widespread acceptance of slavery conditions in Mauritania, affecting as many as 800,000 of the 3.5 million population. Said one abolitionist leader, “Today we have the slavery (that) American plantation owners dreamed of (in that the slaves) believe

See WEIRD on page 14 C


Dear Annie:My older sister and I are

both in our late 40s. After years of putting up with “Mary’s” nasty, critical com-ments and her tantrums when she doesn’t get her way, I am ready to cut all ties. The only problem is, Mary still has pos-session of a number of family photographs and jewelry that once belonged to our mother.

After our father passed away, we put all of the family stuff in storage. About a year later, Mary bought a condo in another city, packed every-thing up and took it with her. She never asked whether I wanted any of it or whether I minded that she took the con-tents of the storage locker. I had to fly to her city, rent a car and a trailer, and then go through everything, dividing up most of the estate.

Because I was living in a small apartment, we agreed that Mary would take care of the family albums until I got my own place. Fifteen years later, she still has them and ignores all requests to make copies. She has found new “reasons” why we cannot divide the more valuable piec-es of jewelry. I have neither the time nor the money to visit her again, and I’m fed up with her delays and excuses. I can’t afford to take her to court, but how can I get her to share without resorting to legal mea-sures? Those pictures mean a lot to me.

— Fed Up

Dear Fed Up:Of course Mary should

share these things with you, but she apparently has no intention of cooperating vol-untarily. You will either have to find a way to visit her and go through the photographs and jewelry, or take her to court. Visiting is probably cheaper, so start saving your money.

Dear Annie:My husband and I find our-

selves in an awkward situa-tion. We recently moved to a

retirement community. We enjoy entertaining and are seeking to make new friends. However, we find that when we go to other couples’ homes, the temperature is extremely uncomfortable.

We live in Florida, and even in the winter, it is at least 75 degrees and often humid. We keep the air conditioning on year-round. If the temperature drops, we turn it off and open the windows to allow fresh air in. Most of the homes we visit are all closed up with no air on and no windows open. It is so uncomfortable and humid, I can barely make it through the evening. When guests come to our home, we always make sure the room is temperate, and we ask whether our guests are comfortable.

At my last visit, I sat fan-ning myself all night, and when I casually mentioned that I was hot, the hostess made no effort to open a win-dow. We don’t want to lose any friendships, but what hap-pened to the days when you tried to make your guests com-fortable for a few hours?

— Sticky Situation in Florida

Dear Sticky:Since you are new members

of this community, it’s quite possible that your friends’ internal body temperatures have adjusted to the heat and humidity, but yours has not. They may find your home too cold, but are reluctant to say so. A secondary possibility is the cost of running the air con-ditioning. We suggest wearing lightweight clothing, and whenever possible, arrange meetings elsewhere.

Dear Annie:My wife and I are having

marital problems. Our issues started when I caught her lying to me and talking privately on the phone to my best friend of 12 years — the same guy who was the best man at my wed-ding. After arguing for a few days, I asked her to make a

See ANNIE on page 14 C

By Darby ConleyAnnie’sAnnie’s

MailboxMailboxAnnie

Annie’s Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Write to Annie’s

Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Ste. 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045 or e-mail your questions to

[email protected].


their condition is necessary to get to paradise.”)

• Non-medical employees of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center have been campaigning for union repre-sentation, suggesting that their current wages leave many workers dangerously close to poverty. Though raises have not materialized, UPMC (according to a November Pittsburgh City Paper report) has now shown sympathy for its employees’ sad plight. In a November UPMC newsletter, it announced that it was setting up “UPMC Cares” food banks. Employees (presumably the better-paid ones) are urged to “donate nonperishable food items to stock employee food pantries that will established on both (UPMC campuse).” One astonished worker’s response: “I started to cry.”

• In December, the St. Lou-is Post-Dispatch revealed, through a public records check, that the appointed Col-lector of Revenue for St. Lou-is County has failed since 2008 to pay personal property taxes. Stacy Bailey and her husband owe taxes on three cars and in fact filed for bank-ruptcy in 2011. Bailey’s boss, Director of Revenue Eugene Leung, told the Dispatch that he had checked Bailey’s real-estate tax status but not per-sonal property taxes. None-theless, he said, “Knowing what I know now, she’s still the most qualified person for the job,” among the 155 appli-cants.

PerspectiveFirst-World Problems:

Before “cellulite” appeared in popular culture around 1972, almost no one believed the condition especially remark-able, wrote London’s The Guardian in December. Simi-larly, the new concern about “wobbly” arms — flesh dan-gling loosely when a woman’s arm is raised horizontally — seems entirely made-up. How-ever, Marks & Spencer and other upscale British retailers now sell “arm corsets” to fash-ionably hold the skin tighter for sleeveless tops. Wrote the Guardian columnist, “I wish I didn’t know that my arms weren’t meant to wobble. I’d be happier.”

Across1 Wallop6 Gray piece10 Cricket c lub13 Fair-minded17 “Funeral Blues”

wri ter18 “Pi ty is for the

l iving, ___ is forthe dead”: Twain

19 Kaplan of “WelcomeBack, Kotter”

20 Info from adebrief ing

22 Somewhat redundant1965 country song?

26 Journal is t Couric27 ___ Lang,

Superboy’s love28 1951 Cooperstown

inductee29 Increases , with “up”30 Somewhat redundant

Mil ton Bradleygame?

35 Show featur ing theL.V.P.D.

38 Oktoberfestcol lect ibles

39 Coti l l ion at tendee40 Power in sci-f i41 Kneeler ’s offer ing43 Ambient musician

Brian44 Org. that f ines

pol luters45 Chicken bred for i ts

meat

49 Somewhat redundants ize?

54 Roof project ion55 Const i tut ional56 Bedt ime preyer?57 “Nick News” host

Linda60 Song featured in

“Animal House”61 Bakery array62 Reacted to a bad

cal l63 Mr. Bi l l appeared on

i t : Abbr.64 Somewhat redundant

1960s spy ser ies?69 Sound of hear tbreak72 Picks up73 Cartoon beagle74 Hit the roof78 Like some passages

in a symphony80 El ton John

nickname81 Del i appl iance82 O’Neil l ’s “___

Chris t ie”83 Somewhat redundant

l i terary genre?88 Scrammed91 Brief laugh92 Flamboyant s tole93 Machiavel l ian

concerns94 John of Sal isbury95 Pink lady ingredient96 “The things I put up

with!”99 Buff100 Somewhat

redundant theaterproduct ion?

106 Glinda’s creator

107 Clock face number

108 Repo just i f icat ion

109 Core phi losophy

112 Extremelyredundant 1963caper f i lm?

118 “Ta-da!”

119 Patron saint ofsai lors

120 Cut and col lect

121 128-character set

122 Job t i t le abbr.

123 Cooper Union’slocat ion, br ief ly

124 Haute cuis ine i t ’snot

125 Chews (out)

Down

1 Not look perky, say

2 Visibi l i ty reducer

3 Skul l session resul t

4 Comb row

5 Ancient Romanauthor Quintus ___

6 In accordance with

7 Goal ie’s jerseynumber, of ten

8 A Waugh

9 Human speechmimickers

10 Shearing shed sound

11 Swallow, as costs

12 Clear ly low onpat ience

13 Peter Pan r ival

14 Not as content

15 Percussive dancetroupe

16 Musician’s ra te

19 Wil l Geer ’s role on“The Waltons”

21 Minus

23 Refined

24 Animal whose headdoesn’t make asound?

25 Common check boxon surveys

31 MTV’s ear l ies tviewers , most ly

32 & 33 Plast ic shieldsand such

34 Equal : Pref ix

35 Tangy salad leaves

36 Amendmentguaranteeing aspeedy t r ia l

37 Part of the frontmatter

42 Mosaicis t ’s supply

44 South Dakota AirForce base

45 Not on deck, maybe

46 R&D si tes

47 Unchanging

48 Walk while dizzy

50 Wimbledon champGibson

51 Shakes up

52 Very impressed

53 Crystal Cave is one

58 Common middlename

59 E Day debuts

61 Emergency

62 Captain who says“Well , gent lemen,between ourselvesand home are27,000 sea miles”

65 Fi l l up on

66 Perfume samplingspot

67 Roman calendar day68 Overused69 One way to go to a

par ty70 “What a calamity!”71 Incl inat ion75 Big East sch.76 Proust’s “À la

Recherche duTemps ___”

77 Sweet meet?

79 Nabisco t reats soldonly seasonal ly

81 Hidden84 Athens’s home85 1950s TV star

Duncan86 Do as expected87 Old World deer89 Body blow react ion90 World capi ta l

s i tuated in whatwas once ancientThrace

95 How bad news isof ten received

96 Attests97 “Music for the

Royal Fireworks”composer

98 Open confl ic t100 End note?101 Nickname of jazz’s

Earl Hines102 Joins103 Cheney’s fol lower104 Slow on the uptake

105 “___ Body?” (f i rs tLord Peter Wimseynovel)

110 Marine threat

111 Skinny

113 Sat isf ied

114 “Breaking Bad”network

115 Great LeapForward overseer

116 BlackBerry buy

117 Slam

No. 0210

RELEA

SE DATE: 2/10/2013

I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME By Patrick Berry / Edited by Will Shortz

For any three answers,call from a touch-tonephone: 1-900-285-5656,$1.49 each minute; or,with a credit card, 1-800-814-5554.

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meat




















118 “Ta-da!”







125 Chews (out)

Down




4 Comb row




8 A Waugh





13 Peter Pan r ival

14 Not as content




21 Minus

23 Refined





34 Equal : Pref ix







46 R&D si tes

47 Unchanging

48 Walk while dizzy


51 Shakes up

52 Very impressed



59 E Day debuts

61 Emergency


65 Fi l l up on





77 Sweet meet?











110 Marine threat

111 Skinny

113 Sat isf ied



116 BlackBerry buy

117 Slam

No. 0210

RELEA

SE DATE: 2/10/2013



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meat




















118 “Ta-da!”







125 Chews (out)

Down




4 Comb row




8 A Waugh





13 Peter Pan r ival

14 Not as content




21 Minus

23 Refined





34 Equal : Pref ix







46 R&D si tes

47 Unchanging

48 Walk while dizzy


51 Shakes up

52 Very impressed



59 E Day debuts

61 Emergency


65 Fi l l up on





77 Sweet meet?











110 Marine threat

111 Skinny

113 Sat isf ied



116 BlackBerry buy

117 Slam

No. 0210

RELEA

SE DATE: 2/10/2013



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For solution, see page 19 C

WEIRDfrom page 12 C

sincere effort to go for coun-seling, and she agreed. I also asked her to stop speaking to my friend during the time we are trying to repair our mar-riage. She agreed to that, too.

However, this guy messag-es her on Facebook, and she still reads his comments. We went to our first counseling session, and I felt it went well. But when we got home, I real-ized that she was having doubts. She finally said she had not been in love with me for five years.

Annie, we have a beautiful 16-month-old baby girl. I want to repair our marriage for our child’s sake, as well as for us. What should I do? Can mar-riage counseling help if there’s no love?

— Dying in New York

Dear New York:Marriage counseling can

help if there once was love that can be recaptured, or if both parties are dedicated to mak-ing the marriage work. A com-patible marriage doesn’t nec-essarily require passion for each other, only a commitment to the stability of the relation-ship. But you cannot do it alone. Please continue with counseling. If your wife wants to work on the marriage, she will come along and make the necessary effort. But if she is unwilling, the counselor will help you forge your own path.

Dear Annie:Would you please define

“immediate family”? My grand-daughter is getting married in May. She is inviting “immediate family only,” thus excluding my daughter (her aunt) and my daughter-in-law’s sister.

This is going to cause a lot of hurt feelings and might even create a split in the family. I am invited, but not my male friend of 14 years. I have talked to my son, the father of the bride, but he does not want to get involved.

Our side of the family is not as large as his. My ex-husband (the grandfather) will not be attending. Why can’t my daughter take his place? What about my daughter’s husband? My relationship with my grand-daughter is very close, so I don’t understand this, and it’s causing stress. Please advise.

— Gram

Dear Gram:“Immediate family” refers

to the bridal couple’s parents and siblings. (If the bride and groom have children, they would also be part of the immediate family.) Grandpar-ents are usually included as “immediate family,” but not aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws or other relatives. Your com-panion of 14 years should be invited because the two of you are an established couple. If your daughter is invited, her husband should be, as well.

Your granddaughter gets to determine her side of the wed-ding list. Although we under-stand how painful this is for you, as long as ALL aunts, uncles and cousins are exclud-ed, it is equitable.

Dear Annie:I’m 46 and have a handi-

capped license plate. I can’t believe how many people have given me dirty looks for park-ing in handicapped spots. One guy even confronted me at the grocery, saying, “I hear they’re giving out some pretty hefty fines for that.”

I was issued the plate because I was born with a clubfoot. I’ve had three recon-structive surgeries, acupunc-ture treatments and 14 corti-sone injections. I take a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication daily and Vicodin when I absolutely must. I have arthritis in my foot and ankle, and part of my Achilles tendon has calcified.

Please tell your readers that one doesn’t have to be in a wheelchair to warrant a handi-capped plate. Believe me, I wish I didn’t need it.

— Pennsylvania

Dear Pennsylvania:In their zeal to protect the

rights of the handicapped, many well-intentioned folks mistakenly assume that unless they can see your dis-ability, you must be faking. We often hear from people with emphysema telling us of the hostility they encounter when legitimately using handicapped parking spaces. Please, folks, when you see a car with a handicapped license plate, sign or decal, assume there is a good rea-son, even if you can’t see what it is. Be kind.

ANNIEfrom page 13 C


Su•do•ku

Medium

— Puzzle No. 1

Easy — Puzzle No. 2

Easy — Puzzle No. 3

• Fill the cells in such a way that each row, column and 3x3 subsquare has digits 1-9.• Some digits are already given as clues.Yoogi games (www.yoogi.com)

For solutions, visit www.theexaminer.com

Q. I just received a letter from a debt collector telling me that if I didn’t make arrangements to pay he would take all the money in my bank account. The only money in that account is my Social Security check, which is all I have to live on. What can I do to protect myself?

A. It is not necessary for you to do anything to protect yourself. Congress has already protected you. First, no creditor can take any money from your bank account without first suing you and getting a judgment against you. More importantly, under federal law, your Social Security check is protected from your creditors even if they sue and win. A creditor cannot take Social Security funds when they are in the bank. I suggest you let the debt collector know that you know your legal rights and you expect him to stop making unlawful threats. Be sure to inform him that the only mon-ey in that account comes from your Social Security check. If the debt collector continues to threaten to take the money in your bank account, he proba-

bly is violating both federal and state debt collection laws. My guess is he will stop threat-ening once he knows you know your rights.

Q. I owe a student loan from more than 10 years ago. I was just contacted by a collec-tor who says if I don’t make payment arrangements, they will garnish my wages. How long do they have to collect? I

thought there was no wage garnishment in Texas.

A. In most cases, a creditor has only four years to sue to collect a debt. After that time, they could ask you to pay but couldn’t take any legal action to force you to pay. Unfortunately for you, however, there are basically no time lim-its within which gov-ernment-backed stu-

dent loans must be collected. Even though the debt is 10 years old, it may still be col-lected. Additionally, although wage garnishment is gener-ally prohibited in Texas, wage garnishment for stu-dent loans is based on federal law that pre-empts Texas law. In other words, if you don’t

pay, your wages will be gar-nished. Under the law, how-ever, you must be given an opportunity to make arrange-ments to pay before wage garnishment is used. I sug-gest you take advantage of this opportunity.

Q. I filed bankruptcy. I have now received a 1099 form from one of my credi-tors. Am I responsible for taxes on the money that was discharged?

A. When a debt is cancelled or written off, this constitutes “income” to you. That is why you received the form 1099. Creditors are required to send a 1099-C under certain cir-cumstances, but it does not mean you have to pay a tax on the discharged amount. Not all canceled debt must be includ-ed as income. The IRS code provides that if the debt is discharged in bankruptcy, or you are insolvent at the time the debt is written off or dis-charged, you do not have to pay taxes. I suggest you visit the IRS website, www.irs.gov, and look for information about “cancellation of debt.” You also might want to speak with a CPA tor tax preparer to make sure you properly file your taxes.

Creditors cannot take your Social Security check

Know Your

Rightswith Richard

Alderman

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“LIT has really helped my career. I also earned my peaceofficer certification at the college, which has really helpedme in my job as a fire inspector and investigator.”

Marcus Rogers, Class of 1988

A Member of The Texas State University System855 East Lavaca � Beaumont

(409) 880-8321 � 1-800-950-6989 � www.lit.eduLamar Institute of Technology is an equal opportunity/affirmative action educational institution and employer.

16 C LIVING THE EXAMINER • Feb. 14-20, 2013Le

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A Valentine’s Day surprise came a little early for Falcon Lake angler Isaac Denson. Feb. 7, he was fishing in about 3 feet of water when he got the bite of a lifetime, one that turned out to be the heaviest bass he’s ever caught – she weighed 13.4 pounds and mea-sured 26.5 inches in length.

Falcon, located on the Texas/Mexico bor-der, is one of the hot-test big bass lakes in the nation right now. The water is typically a lot warmer in that region of Tex-as, and that’s why the bass are spawning there right now.

One reason Falcon is such a prime target for anglers in the hunt for double-digit bass is because it gets very little fish-ing pressure, as compared to lakes likes Sam Rayburn, Toledo Bend and Conroe. It’s definitely a long haul from Southeast Texas, but well worth the run if you want some guaranteed big bass adventure. To win a bass tour-nament at Falcon, it often takes a 5 to 6 pound average.

On the Texas side of the lake, all species of fish are managed under current state-wide regulations. For recre-ational anglers fishing Mexi-can waters, a Mexico fish-ing license is required for everyone in the boat. Mexico boat permits are no longer required. For information on Mexico’s fishing regulations, visit the National Aquacul-ture and Fishing C o m m i s s i o n (CONAPESCA) website. Lake maps are available from the Zapata Chamber of Commerce and at Falcon State Park.

Mexico licenses can be pur-chased in Zapata at Robert’s Fish N’ Tackle (2425 S. High-way 83, 956-765-1442) or from Falcon Lake Tackle (2195 S. Highway 83, 956-765-4866.) Several fishing guides work on Falcon. A list is available from the Zapata Chamber of Commerce.

This is the fifth entry of the season into the Toyota Share-Lunker program, which only accepts 13-pound plus bass. So far this season, entries have

come from Lake Aus-tin, Fork (two entries) and Dunlap.

“The heaviest entry of the season to date is Richard Scibek’s 16.04-pounder caught from Lake Fork on Feb. 2,” said Larry Hodge, with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Depart-ment. “The angler who

catches the largest entry of the season is named Angler of the Year and receives a prize pack-age from G. Loomis consisting of a G. Loomis GLX854C jig and worm rod, a Shimano Chronarch 200E7 casting reel and a spool of Power Pro super-braid fishing line. If the Angler of the Year is a Texas resident, he or she also receives a lifetime fishing license.”

Here’s how it all works. Anyone legally catching a

13-pound or heavier large-mouth bass from Texas waters, public or private, between Oct. 1 and April 30 may submit the fish to the Toyota ShareLunker program by calling the Share-Lunker hotline at (903) 681-0550 or paging (888) 784-0600 and leaving a phone number including area code. Fish will be picked up by TPWD personnel within 12 hours.

LU students set for college FLW tourney on T-Bend

FLW College Fishing is headed to Toledo Bend on Feb. 16 for the second of four stops

in the Southern Con-ference. Fifty college teams

will be com-peting for a top award of

$2,000 and a berth in the Southern Con-

ference Invitational tourna-ment.

“In my opinion, it is the best tournament lake in the country,” said pro Jim Tutt of Longview. “There are a lot of ways you can catch them, and there are a ton of healthy fish. On Toledo you can fish any type of water that you like to fish. You can go shallow, you can go deep, you can fish wood or you can fish grass.

“It will be a definite pre-spawn tournament,” said Tutt.

Isaac Denson caught this 13.4-pound bass

while fishing in 3 feet of water on Falcon Lake on Thursday, Feb. 7. She has been entered into

the Share-Lunker pro-

gram.

Monster bass on the feed

Robert Sloan

Outdoors

TPWD photo

See SLOAN on page 17 C

With all of the local music and sports talent from our area comes some national outdoors recognition. The History channel’s “Swamp People” has now added two local men to their team. The new season of the highly pop-ular, nationally aired program about people that follow tra-ditional means in order to work outdoors begins on Feb. 14. It will be shown each Thursday at 8 p.m.

In the event that you haven’t seen “Swamp People,” it is about both men and women that hunt alli-gators in the Louisi-ana swamps. They are shown as they prepare to go, how they locate hunt areas, and actu-ally taking the alliga-tors. Add to that the excite-ment of weather conditions, personal problems, and even fun events and you have “Swamp People.”

Troy Broussard was raised in Port Acres and now lives in Fannett where he grew up hunting and fishing in the local bayous and marshes. As a youth he was a champion

duck caller. By spending so much time in the duck blinds and traveling in airboats, the marshes became second nature to him. As Broussard grew up, he added alligator hunting to his resume. He could locate places along the bayous and in the marshes where the big gators lived. Whenever there was no open alligator season, Broussard would spend countless hours

fishing.Trotlines would

furnish enough blue and channel catfish for the family and friends to enjoy. Locating and catching the marsh’s large-mouth black bass also became second nature to him. Added to those outdoor activi-

ties, this swamp person is also a commercial crabber. To top it all off, Broussard is a fire captain for the Port Arthur Fire Department. With his many years of expe-rience in the marshes and swamps, it would seem only natural for the producers of

Billy Halfin

Outdoors

Hatcher and Broussard, the new ‘Swamp People’

Area talent make their ‘Swamp People’ debut

See HALFIN on page 17 A


“Swamp People” to select him to be one part of a new two-man team for their super popu-lar television program.

The other team partner is none other than the popular waterfowl hunting guide Har-lan Hatcher. Hatcher is a native of Fannett and has been guid-ing waterfowl hunters since he was old enough to do so.

Hatcher is a giant of a man with a heart just as big as he is. Over the years this outdoors expert has guided alligator hunters as well as waterfowl hunters. When those seasons are closed, Hatcher spends his time at night hunting frogs along the bayous and in the many crawfish ponds that are on The Drake Plantation’s duck lease. At one time, Har-lan made his extra spending money trapping fur-bearing animals. He also is an expert at ridding ranches of nuisance predators such as coyotes.

Harlan’s family was much in demand as house-building carpenters for many

years. While he was one of the carpenter brothers, he found that there was a good living to

be made in the crawfish-ing business. Here,

again, The Drake Plantation was also in the crawfish busi-

ness, so it was a natural fit for them to unite. Hatcher drives the truck that hauls

thousands of pounds of the tasty crustaceans for the boom-ing business.

With all of the aforemen-tioned activities that are the lives of both Troy and Harlan, their obsession with down and dirty alligator hunting is at the top of the list.

The producers as well as the other members of the “Swamp People” cast did much research and yes, face-to-face living, before these two were selected to be the newest alligator hunting.

I have seen the promos on the History Channel and I can hardly wait for the shows to begin. With these fellows’ experience and passion for the outdoors, the program should be super interesting.

Broussard told me that they were just being themselves. Sort of like what you see is what you get.

Billy Halfin can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

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As you assemble the paperwork you’ll need to file your 2012 tax return, take a minute to review some last-minute moves you could make to cut last year’s tax bill. Also, pay attention to deductions you shouldn’t overlook. Here’s a quick checklist.

· The American Taxpayer Relief Act, signed into law on January 2, 2013, has some tax-savers for 2012. The law restored for 2012 through 2013 the following tax breaks:

* The optional deduction for state and local sales taxes in lieu of deducting state and local income taxes.

* The above-the-line deduction for up to $4,000 for qualified tuition and related expenses.

* The above-the-line deduction for up to $250 of classroom supplies pur-chased by teachers.

* The exclusion from income for can-cellation of mortgage debt of up to $2 million on a principal residence.

* The deduction for mortgage insurance premiums.

* The tax credit for making energy-saving home improve-ments.

· If you’re in business, the new law included some tax breaks you shouldn’t overlook. The first-year expensing option for equipment purchases in 2012 was increased to $500,000, with a $2,000,000 total limit. The research tax credit, the work opportunity credit, and the 15-year recovery period for quali-fied leasehold and retail improvements and qualified restaurant property were all made available for 2012.

· If you qualify, you have until April 15 to make a deductible 2012 IRA contribution. The maximum 2012 contribution is $5,000 if you’re under age 50 and $6,000 if you’re 50 or older.

· The $2,500 deduction for student loan interest is still avail-able for 2012 and can be taken even if you don’t itemize deductions on your return.

The tax law gets more complicated every time Congress passes another bill, but don’t let your tax bill creep higher than neces-sary through oversight.

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Harlan ‘Big Foot’ Hatcher

Troy ‘T-Roy’ Broussard

“Depending on how warm the water gets there might be a few spawners here and there, but the majority of the fish will be pre-spawn. The way the hydrilla is setting up has made reac-tion-style baits hot. My advice to college anglers would consist of three things: Rat-L-Traps, Rat-L-Traps and Rat-L-Traps.”

Tutt thinks the only thing that could keep this event from being a great tournament would be a strong north wind. Tutt said this can wreak havoc on Toledo Bend by dirtying the waters and making boat control a night-mare for even the most experienced anglers.

He estimates the winning team will bring more than 20 pounds to the scales.

Anglers will take off from Paradise Point Park in Hemphill. Weigh-in will be held at the park beginning at 1:30 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.

Representing Lamar University are Justin Ridgaway from Nederland, Josh Bowie and Robert Parks of Port Neches and Brandon Simoneaux from Bridge City.

Robert Sloan can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

SLOANfrom page 16 A

HALFINfrom page 16 A


Religion

Pastor Delmar Dabney1925-1994

Brenda Cannon Henley

Senior Correspondent

to The Examiner

As I was meditating and giving serious thought to what I would address for the month of February for several publi-cations, I began to think about the human heart. Now, I have lived long enough to know that different folks believe different things about the importance of the heart. I am not referring to medical conditions, although God knows there are many people suffering from bad hearts in the physical realm. Schol-ars have long debated what is stored within man’s heart. Many say it is the seat of our emotions. Some intel-ligent writers warn about “keeping the heart.” Others say that you must think only on good things (which I’ll admit is fairly hard to do in this day and age) and store them in your heart.

Proverbs 4:23 in the Amplified Bible teaches, “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard (or pro-tect), for out of it flow the

springs of life.” The King James Version of the Bible teaches, “Keep thy heart with all diligence (careful-ness), for out of it are the issues of life.” Reading the same verse in several other

versions of the Holy Word of God, we get the same impression. What is in our heart is very important to the total well being of our life.

One lady wrote, “Be careful what you put into your heart, because out of it, your actions will come.” Another compared our hearts to a computer — whatever you put in comes out.

If we put evil thoughts, unkind words, gossip, por-nography, bad messages or hatred in any form, it will seep out of our hearts and form words and actions when we least expect it to do so. Are we out to get someone (or many some ones) in our hearts? Do evil and vile plans lurk there? Are we constantly churning over the ill that has been dealt to us by others?

“O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart doth the mouth speak. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things” (Matthew 12:34, 35). “A good man (or woman) out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good. An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil. Out of the abundance of the heart does the mouth speak” (Luke 6:45).

The keeping of the heart must be important to God if two of the writers of the gos-pels and so many additional references make so much of it for us to have, read and understand. The Book of Proverbs again in Chapter 23, Verse 7, teaches, “For as he (or she) thinks in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, said he to you, but his heart is not with you.”

Goodness, I am compelled today to think of what is in my own heart. What have I stored

there? Are the treasures of my heart good or evil?

February is traditionally thought of as “the heart month,” and we are reminded of those we love and admire. Many of us give and receive sweet remembrances of our love to each other, but perhaps the very best gift we could offer both to ourselves and to others would be the gift of a clean and pure heart. Perhaps we should join King David as he prayed in Psalm 139:23, 24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there

be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlast-ing.”

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of our readers. May I say thank you to those of you who take the time to write or call when one of our columns is a blessing to you? I appreciate your reading our publication and I pray daily that our words will be of help and blessing to each of you.

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at (409) 781-8788 or at [email protected].

Pastor Michael LaBrie

Sunday • 10:30 AMTuesday Family Prayer 7:00 PMWed. Night • 7:30 Bible Study

1225 Glendale • Beaumont409-866-2000

www.GospelTabernacleBeaumont.com

Everyone Welcome!

Gospel Tabernacle

We are taking a fresh look at the Ten Commandments. They show us our sin and they point us to Christ, who is the only way to God. I am reading from I Timothy 1:3- 11.

“As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealo-gies, which cause disputes

rather than Godly edification which is in faith. Now the pur-pose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscious, and from sin-cere faith, from which some, have strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desir-ing to be teachers of the law, understanding nei-ther what they say nor the things which they affirm.

“But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, know-ing this, that the law is not made for a righ-teous person, but for the lawless and insub-ordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of father and mur-derers of mothers, for man-slayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for

liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gos-pel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.”

Did we hear and under-stand whom the law is for? “The law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordi-nate, for the ungodly, and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers.” If we are honest at all, all of us will find ourselves somewhere in there.

It is a remarkable thing to me that nearly

all legal codes include some secular version of the Ten Commandments. You shall not kill, not in the first, sec-ond or third degree. You shall not embezzle, or steal, com-

mit grand larceny, nor auto theft. You shall not lie or bear false witness against your neighbor, or you will be guilty of perjury, and so on. Our nation’s legal code is filled with secular versions of the Ten Commandments. In fact, it has been rightly said that the Ten Command-ments are, in many ways, the thunderstone on which our western civilization has been built.

What the law does in its second, civic use is to deter lawbreakers by the threat of punishment. The law serves to restrain evil or to bridle it. Or, to change the image, the law is a kind of dike against the flood of sin and evil by which we would otherwise be over-whelmed.

If life in the human com-munity is to be harmonious, or even tolerable, we will have to

have laws and we will have to have them enforced. There is a sense in which this fact is almost universally recognized. There is another sense in which we see this truth being flaunted today. We make laws and then we find dozens of reasons not to enforce them. In doing so we make a mockery out of our system of justice and we create the situation that we live with today — a society in which it seems that our sys-tem of justice works better for the criminal and against the honest victim.

Recognition of the need for law is much more common than obedience to the law or enforcement of the law.

Heavenly Father, help us to be obedient to your laws and eager to support their just and equal enforcement. For Jesus’ sake, amen and amen.

Law not made for righteous people

Understanding my own heart during February


Hi everyone, I’m Mol-ly. You might think “adult cat” means I’m an old girl, but don’t count me out! You’re only as old as you feel, right? And I feel like a little kid (well, kit-ten I guess). I still love to play. Just check out the picture that the nice pho-tography lady took — I enjoy a fun dangly string just as much as any young’un! And I love attention. You can hold me, pet me, scratch my ears, give me little kisses and I will soak it all up and purr the whole time. I used to have a home and belong to a family, but unfortunately someone in my family was allergic to me and they had to give me up. I want nothing more than to have a home and a family who will love me forever because I have so much love and joy to give. And hey, let’s be honest, I am not too hard on the eyes either! Just look at these baby blues ... how can you say no?

Pet of the weekHumane Society of Southeast Texas

SMITEPOEMBATJUSTAUDENENVYGABEINTELGREENGREENGRASSOFHOME

KATIELANAOTTAMPSHUNGRYHUNGRYHIPPOS

CSISTEINSDEBESPRINGENOEPABROILEREXTRAEXTRALARGEEAVESTROLLOWLELLERBEESHOUTPIESBOOEDSNL

THEWILDWILDWESTSOBEARNSODIEERUPTTHEMATICREGSLICERANNASHORTSHORTSTORYGOTLOSTHEHBOAENDS

LOOGINSHEESHNUTOFFOFFBROADWAYSHOWBAUMIIILIENETHOSITSAMADMADMADMADWORLDTHEREELMOREAPASCII

ASSTNYCSLOPREAMS

Crossword solution – Puzzle on page 14 C

7 Little Words solution – Puzzle on page 12 C

Puzzle 11. EMAILING 2. THIEVISH 3. CRAWL 4. SEMINAL

5. SOARS 6. BIOGRAPHER 7. IMPRESSION

1. VECTOR 2. APPROPRIATE 3. RUMPLING 4. KILDARE 5. GALORE 6. PINBALL 7. MARRIOTT

CHECK BACK NEXT WEEK FOR ANSWERS TO PUZZLE 3.

Puzzle 2

Puzzle 3

Adopting a cat can be a 15-year or more commitment. Please adopt responsibly! Adoption fee is $85, or $150 for pure breed or pedigree cats and kittens. This includes the first round of vaccina-tions, bordetella vaccination, worming, flea treatment and spaying or neutering. All animals will be spayed or neutered before going to their new home. For information, call the Humane Society at (409) 833-0504 or visit 2050 Spindletop Ave., Beaumont.

being dehumanized. And in doing so, we may just find the right balance between technolo-gy and trust and thereby find the solution to the cost of healthcare.

It is in this context that SETMA whole-heartedly embraces technology and science, while retaining the sense of person in our daily responsibilities of caring for persons. Quality metrics have made us better health-care providers. The public reporting of our performance of those metrics has made us better clinician/scientist. But what makes us better healthcare providers is our caring for people.

ConclusionPhysician hubris or stubbornness may

reject quality metrics for a while, but patient and societal demands will rightly press for change. Caring in the 21st Century will no longer be measured by personality or friendli-ness; it will be measured by competence which will increasingly be an objective mea-surement. To reject that reality is to prepare oneself for obsolescence.

Quality metrics tells us where we are and they tell us where we are “tending to go.” If tracked, audited, analyzed and publicly reported, quality metrics will help us “judge what to do and how to do it.”

Dr. James L. Holly is CEO of Southeast Texas Medical Associates, LLP (SETMA) in Beaumont.

HOLLYfrom page 10 C

FORT HOOD – Deciding on a career can be a difficult decision some make very late in life, but for 9-year-old Neil Sawh of Houston, there’s nothing he wants more than to be a sol-dier.

The 1st Squadron, 7th “Garryowen” Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cav-alry Division gave Neil Sawh, a fourth-grader from Houston, the chance to be a cavalry sol-dier for a day Feb. 8.

Neil was diagnosed with a rare strain of muscular dystrophy at the age of 7 and he received the opportunity of a lifetime when his parents surprised him with a visit to Fort Hood.

“I told him, ‘you’re [going to] have to look out,’” said Nelini Sawh, Neil’s mother. “‘They’re going to be clues along the way. Let’s see if you can figure out where we’re going.’”

Nelini said as soon as Neil saw the sign for Fort Hood, he was excited and spoke at the top of his voice.

Neil said, “Fort Hood! We’re going to the Army base!”

Lt. Col. Jay Miseli, commander of Gar-ryowen, said there was no better way to get Neil involved than to incorporate him into the already scheduled Garryowen Games.

“The bottom line is, we saw this as the per-fect opportunity for Neil to see what soldiers do and experience it firsthand,” Miseli said.

Neil appeared to be very shy and quiet, but opened up while on the obstacle course.

“Let’s go, Apache,” Neil shouted.Assisted by Miseli, Neil went alongside the

soldiers of Garryowen’s Troop A, and cheered

them on as the troop completed the course with the fastest time of 16 minutes, 57 seconds.

During a ceremony to recognize the winners of Garryowen Games, Miseli enlisted Neil into the military as an honorary member of Gar-ryowen. Neil also received spurs, a Stetson, an Army Combat Uniform and was named deputy squadron commander for the day, where he was allowed to help Miseli make decisions.

“The thing I enjoyed most was watching him have this experience,” Nelini said. “I really enjoyed how everyone was just so friendly … they came up to his level and shook his hand. They treated him like one of their own.”

Nelini said soldiers are Neil’s idols and he’s always wanted to join the Army.

“He has no other dream,” said Nelini. “That’s it — to be a soldier.”

Boy becomes cavalry soldier for a day

U.S. Soldiers with 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment (Garryow-en), 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, perform pushups for 9-year-old Neil Sawh, center, a Houston native, during a ceremony at the squad-ron headquarters in Fort Hood, Texas, Feb. 8, 2013. Sawh enlisted as an honorary member of Garryowen at the ceremony.

Photos by Capt. Angel Jackson-Gillespie

Sawh dons a helmet with a display screen that allows him to identify and engage enemy targets battalion’s Special Operations Semi ground mobility vehicle, where he served as the gunner.

Living 2013 0214.pdf - The Examiner

Documents

Transcript of Living 2013 0214.pdf - The Examiner