Opinions

“I can tell you this: We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow.” — Capital Gazette reporter Chase Cook, tweeting after five of his colleagues were shot dead June 28.

If you’re reading this, you probably value local news. Whether it’s online or in traditional print, some part of you likes – maybe even loves – your local newspaper. So listen when I say you need to stand up for it… now.

For a hundred years, the newest medium has always been going to kill the newspaper. Radio, television, and the Internet have each been a harbinger of doom for the printed word. Newspapers survived, but now new threats have emerged.

First up is the tariff on newsprint. Earlier this year, the US Department of Commerce imposed a tariff on newsprint from Canada. This action came after one company claimed Canadian mills were dumping newsprint on the US market at low prices.

The petitioner, the North Pacific Paper Company (NORPAC), operates in Washington state but is owned by a Wall Street hedge fund. Interestingly, it is estimated that only 4.6 percent of Canadian newsprint goes into NORPAC’s market. And yet the company is seeking tariffs of up to 50 percent. The industry widely opposes these tariffs, but already the Commerce Department has given preliminary approval to total duties up to 32 percent, according to the News Media Alliance.

Newspapers’ print readership nationwide has fallen off in the last 20 years as more readers move to digital delivery and as big daily papers’ circulations have declined. (Community newspapers’ circulations have generally held steady.) As a result, there are fewer American mills making newsprint, and even at peak capacity they cannot come close to supplying the market’s total demand, which makes it necessary to import paper from Canada.

The Enterprise is printed at Community Printers in Shamrock, using newsprint from American mills, but the market is very tight. Earlier this spring, our printer and others were facing a critical shortage. One paper shipment was about a month late in getting to our press.

Coupled with the tight supply, the preliminary tariff is now having a ripple effect through the entire industry and the Enterprise’s printing costs have now gone up. And this may only be the beginning. We have learned that one Canadian newsprint mill is pulling out of the US market entirely, throwing another kink into the nation’s supply. Meanwhile, the Trump administration put tariffs on aluminum coming from Canada. Presses use aluminum plates to print newspapers, and this tariff will also spread throughout the industry.

The Commerce Department held hearings on the newsprint tariff as this issue went to press this week. Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) sent a letter to the department at the urging of Texas Press President Laurie Brown of The Canadian Record. We appreciate him doing that, and we’re asking Congressman Thornberry to consider joining 24 Republicans and four Democrats in co-sponsoring the PRINT Act (HB 6031) in the House of Representatives. If passed, the bill would halt the collection of newsprint tariffs until Commerce could study all the relevant issues and issue a report.

So what can you do? Call your Representative and ask him or her to support HB 6031.

Another big threat to local newspapers is a general disdain for “the media” fueled by a president who labels news outlets as “the enemy of the American people.”

The press has a tough job to do, and sometimes it ticks people off. People don’t like getting called out when they do stupid stuff. Some folks just can’t handle it. That was the case last month when a man with a grudge went into a local newspaper in Maryland – the Capital Gazette – and murdered five people and injured several more. He had held a personal grudge against the paper and several of its employees for years because they reported on him.

President Trump wasn’t directly responsible for those murders, and right after the attack, he said: “Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job.”

But the next week, in Great Falls, Mont., USA Today reported the president pointed to news crews covering an event and said: “I see the way they write. They’re so damn dishonest. And I don’t mean all of them, because some of the finest people I know are journalists really. Hard to believe when I say that. I hate to say it, but I have to say it. But 75 percent of those people are downright dishonest. Downright dishonest. They’re fake. They’re fake.”

Seventy-five percent of journalists are dishonest? That’s crap.

I know and have known a lot of men and women in print and broadcast media, and I can tell you most journalists are honest and dedicated. Just as we shouldn’t label all cops as crooked based on the actions of a few, we shouldn’t be so quick to throw out honest journalism as “fake” because a negative report hurt this president’s feelings.

So what can you do? Well, first and foremost, subscribe to local journalism. If you think it’s important to have someone covering your city council or school board and holding those folks accountable for the job they do, then subscribe today to The Clarendon Enterprise, to the Canadian Record, to the Red River Sun, to the Fritch Eagle Press, or to whatever your local newspaper is. If you already have a subscription, buy one for a friend or a family member. Give the newspaper, and their advertisers, your support.

And secondly, think twice before you “like” or share some foolish meme on social media that labels news outlets as a bigger threat to American security than China, North Korea, or Russia. That’s the furthest thing from the truth, and it hurts the credibility every member of the press.

The newspaper industry is facing grave threats. But like always, we will persevere. And with your support, we will continue “putting out a damn paper.”

Clarendon College and its attorney Chase Hales deserve recognition for the Open Meetings Act training presented at last week’s meeting of the Board of Regents. It was very well done and should be emulated by other local governments, specifically Howardwick.

Too often, elected officials are just pointed in the direction of the online training available, which is good but frequently forgotten. It satisfies the legal requirement that board members have to be trained, but it doesn’t leave the lasting impression that is necessary to keep officials out of trouble.

By contrast, CC’s newest regent – Tommy Waldrop – along with fellow his fellow board members, most of whom have been regents for many years, got the benefit of training specifically suited to their positions complete with scenarios that their unique roles face.

Hales obviously spent a lot of time planning his presentation, which included 32 detailed slides with specifics of all kinds. And yet, as detailed as it was, Hales also kept it simple. Don’t talk about it if it’s not on the agenda. Executive sessions have narrow, specific purposes and limited scope. Stick to the agenda. Subcommittees are subject to the Open Meetings Act and Public Information Act. Stick to the agenda. Board members shouldn’t engage staff other than the president. And last but not least, stick to the agenda.

Astute readers probably picked up on a theme in that paragraph. Basically, Hales warned board members that a meeting is not the time to discuss whatever is bothering them or whatever comes up as a flight of fancy during a meeting. The public, the attorney emphasized, has a right to know what’s going to be discussed prior to the meeting in case they want to be there for that discussion.

Some boards have no trouble with that concept. Other entities, like the City of Howardwick for example, have to yet to completely grasp the idea. Howardwick would benefit greatly from having some personal training, and it would be good not just for the city council but for the citizens themselves.

While things have improved somewhat at Howardwick’s meetings (the sheriff hasn’t had to be there in a while), there is still room for improvement. Agenda items are sometimes vague, which leads to discussion that can’t be anticipated by the public or the council. Action has been taken on some items that wasn’t authorized by the agenda. And worst of all, the audience has become almost fully participating members of the discussion.

Hales’ training for the college board reinforced what is generally understood at local government meetings. “‘Public comment’ is sufficient to hear the public but not to discuss business with the public,” Hales wrote on one of his slides.

That’s an important first point. A second point would be that the public needs to generally keep quiet and let the board deliberate on its own. At Howardwick, there is usually enough difference of opinion on a subject by those elected officials to sufficiently debate any issue without ten or 15 citizens interjecting their thoughts or outrage on the matter.

If Howardwick citizens really want to give their elected representatives a chance to improve their community, then letting them do their job might be a good place to start.

Hales hit all the right notes in his presentation, and other local governments would be well served to engage a qualified person to refresh them on the rules. Laws and the rulings of the attorney general change from year to year, which makes it important to stay abreast of where the boundaries are for what is and isn’t okay.

Clarendon College is to be commended for taking a positive step to make sure things are done the right way. CC Board Chairman Lon Adams also deserves special recognition for attending an open meetings / open records workshop hosted by the Panhandle Press Association earlier this year.

The actions taken by local governments are the public’s business – your business. The Open Meetings Act and Public Information Act are designed to make sure the public – you – have every opportunity to know what your governments are doing, and it is encouraging when local boards take that obligation seriously.

And furthermore…
Chase Hales also zeroed in on something that is the pet peeve of every journalist and champion of open government – the Executive Session.

The topics that can be discussed behind closed doors are limited, he said. He listed the very specific reasons a board can meet in closed session – Real Property Deliberations (if deliberation in open session would have a detrimental effect on the entity’s position); Personnel Matters (related to specific employees or specific positions of current employees); Consultations with an Attorney; specific Economic Development issues; and specific Security issues.

The attorney said boards need to be very specific on their agenda about going into closed session, especially in terms of personnel.

The public’s business, as much as possible, should be conducted in public. If a board is going into executive session frequently, they might do well to step back and make sure they are conducting themselves as openly they should.

Voters have some big decisions to make in the next few days, and the consequences of the Republican primary will have lasting ramifications on our state and our region.

Most Donley County voters have had their mailboxes littered with ultra-conservative propaganda that just seems to multiply as election day edges closer. The majority of that mail is courtesy of Empower Texans, a group that can best be described as sinister in their tactics to control Texas politics.

Empower Texans intends to unseat State Rep. Ken King and State Sen. Kel Seliger after the Panhandle legislators didn’t tow the line for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott last year. For the money men behind the political powerhouse, there is no compromise, and there is no “do what’s best for your district.” There is only “obey.”

Interestingly, King and Seliger both find themselves in three-way races for their party’s nominations.

Seliger is facing former Midland mayor Mike Canon, and Amarillo restauranteur Victor Leal. I’ve never met Mr. Canon, but I’m sure he would make a fine senator… for Midland. I’m just not sure he can identify with us poor folk in Donley County. He’s also endorsed by Empower Texans, and that’s about all I need to know.

Mr. Leal, on the other hand, I visited with on the phone a few months ago, and I had hoped to squeeze in a full interview before the election. But alas, time slipped away. In our one conversation, we did quickly find common ground with family histories in the Muleshoe/Farwell region. I told him my reasoning for supporting Mr. Seliger in an October editorial, and I think he respected my position. He seems like a man who can agree to disagree, and I think that’s a great quality in a person.

Rep. King is facing Perryton insurance man Jason Huddleston, and Richard Beyea, a man in the oil business who is also from Perryton.

Much like Canon, I don’t know Mr. Huddleston. I’m sure he’s a fine Christian man, but his campaign literature leads me to think that he might tend to vote his religious views over what’s best for the state. His campaign was nice enough to leave a message on our home answering machine about men in little girls’ restrooms, which we then had to explain to my nine- and 11-year-olds. I don’t appreciate that. He’s also endorsed by Empower Texans.

Mr. Beyea stopped by my office two weeks ago, and I had full intentions of writing up my entire conversation with him. But then Howardwick’s government went to hell, and I became sidetracked for several days.

During the half hour or so visit, Beyea seemed like a very nice West Texas guy. I found common ground with him also in terms of government functioning best at the local level. He was kind of worked up about property values going up and down with the price of oil, and I gently explained we didn’t have that problem here since we never had any oil.

Beyea said one of his motivations for running was that, in his opinion, Rep. King has basically ruined his relationship with the governor and Lt. Dan and therefore he cannot effectively represent us. In his view, you have to be able to get along with the party leadership if you’re going to get anything done.

Beyea also said Austin can take an I-35 issue and then uses a sledge hammer approach to the whole state.
I specifically asked if Beyea would have supported the lieutenant governor’s property tax proposal, which would have crippled economically disadvantaged rural counties like Donley by limiting their ability to raise taxes beyond four percent. (Currently, those taxes can be raised up to eight percent before a rollback election is triggered.)
Mr. Beyea said he would not have voted for it “without a fight,” which led me to believe that ultimately, after a good fight, he would have voted the way the party leadership wanted him to.

I did appreciate comments that Beyea made about needing more transparency instead of less transparency in government, and his assertions that politicians need to remember they work for us. He also said that he is not taking any special interest money in his campaign.

The real question is whether or not we need to change who we have representing us. Ultimately, Donley County and the rest of the Panhandle need legislators in Austin who represent our interests even when that contradicts the agenda of the faceless radicals behind Empower Texans.

The literature in your mailbox will tell you that King and Seliger are “liberals” and will proclaim that “studies have proved” they are some of the most liberal members of the Legislature. But if you put me and my brother in a room with five staunch Baptists, you’re going to be able to “prove” that we’re the most “liberal” because we don’t have a problem going to the liquor store. It’s all a matter of degrees and perspective.

Empower Texans cherry picks hot button issues and then obfuscates the facts to smear the records of two men, who have done nothing but vote for our best interests. Do not be deceived. The Texas Panhandle doesn’t need automaton legislators who will just do what Empower Texans and Lt. Dan tell them. We need men of backbone, and we already have that in Ken King and Kel Seliger.

Donley County’s State Senator Kel Seliger and State Representative Ken King have announced their plans to run for re-election to their respective offices, and for Texas’ sake, we hope they win.

There is probably no realistic chance for a Democrat to win the districts represented by Seliger and King. Their biggest hurdle will be fending off challenges from within their own parties.

King is being opposed by Perryton insurance salesman Jason Huddleston, and Seliger is facing Midland attorney Mike Canon and Amarillo restauranteur Victor Leal.

According to published reports, Huddleston has said King is among legislators who “run as conservatives but govern as liberals.” Canon previously ran against Seliger in 2014 and was narrowly defeated despite negative remarks that political action committees made about the senator on the Midland candidate’s behalf. Leal wants to take tough stance on property tax reform and says there is a “moral obligation” to provide public funds for private schools, and his biggest “policy” announcement so far is that he won’t be airing any more NFL games in his Mexican food restaurants.

God help Texas if people like Victor Leal unseat men like King and Seliger.

Common sense – and even common decency – were in short supply in Austin during the legislative sessions this year as flame-breathing social-religious conservatives tried to take Texas’ already conservative government and push it full tilt to the hard right. With Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pushing an ultra-conservative agenda in the Senate and very little leadership from the governor, the only thing keeping Texas focused on remaining a pro-business, pro-local control state was House Speaker Joe Straus and some sane individuals like King and Seliger.

Seliger said it best during a recent town hall in Clarendon in describing the legislative session as one “where people came out of the closet and said they didn’t really like local government.” The senator was referring to a slew of proposals that would curtail the authority of local cities, counties, and schools.

Republicans have for years held that decisions are best left to local authorities. But now, powerful ultra-conservatives no longer subscribe to that theory if local authorities enact policies that don’t fit their strict world-view.

If your city chooses to ban plastic grocery bags or install red light cameras, shouldn’t that be up to your local citizens through your elected officials? The “local control” answer would be “yes.” But today’s big government Republicans say “no.”

Likewise, if your city or county need to raise taxes by five percent to fund let’s say street improvements, emergency medical needs, or law enforcement, that also should be up to your local elected officials, but again people like Dan Patrick and busybodies like Sen. Paul Bettencourt say “no.”

Kel Seliger stood up for local control, and that is going to haunt him in the upcoming election. Common sense West Texans need to rally round him because he is the guy who votes for his district instead of just voting for what the party bosses and the lobbyist tell him to.

If Victor Leal is really worried about his property taxes, then he needs to run for county commissioner or city council… not the state senate. If he really thinks the state has a “moral obligation” to pay for his kids’ private school, then he has no business running for an office that shapes the policy of public education… which has been a cornerstone of Texas since the days of the Republic.

And if Mr. Huddleston thinks Ken King is a liberal, then we sure as heck don’t want to see his idea of a conservative.

We may not agree with all the positions taken by Mr. Seliger or Mr. King, and that’s fine. Because when the chips were down, they stood for the Panhandle and not the special interests. Let us hope that their constituents keep their wits about them as they go to the polls next spring.

The first full week of October is National Newspaper Week every year, and the Enterprise again joins in the celebration to remind everyone of the importance of a free and independent press.

It’s easy to find “information” about what people think is happening in your community. But if you want verified news you can count on, then you can always turn to your hometown paper. The Enterprise reports on the meetings you don’t have time to attend, let’s you know what’s about to happen with your local taxes, keeps up with the local football teams, and so much more.

The newspaper also serves as the eyes and ears of the people keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings of local governments, making sure they keep their activities between the lines and above board.

The watchdog role has always been a tough one in a small town where the opportunity exists that the public officials being scrutinized by the paper could be close friends of the paper’s staff or could be the person sitting next to the editor tomorrow at the local restaurant. And yet local news men and women across America continue to fight the good fight and work hard to bring you the best information possible.

Your newspaper fills other roles as well, not the least of which is the community’s de facto history keeper. The first draft of history is right here in your hands. Twenty-five, 50, or a hundred years from now, someone may pick up this paper to find out what issues were facing farmers, how the local sports teams were doing, or to find their ancestor’s obituary. Issues of our paper going back 139 years are an invaluable resource as the triumphs and tragedies of our lives unfold in black and white. The future will be no different as the news of the present becomes documented history.

But that’s for the people of tomorrow. The most important role remains here and now as we stay on top of everything from City Hall to the Courthouse to College Hill and the local school boards. Citizens have not only have a right to know what’s happening at those places, they have a need to know. The actions of local boards and elected officials are important to report so that voters can decide if they want to continue to support those people or vote for someone else or even throw their own hate in the ring.

And just as important is the need to keep up with the world around you. What’s happening with the Cotton Festival? When is the next Chamber of Commerce function? When will the Whistle-Stop be open? What are they doing with that old theatre? All of these questions can be answered just by picking up your Clarendon Enterprise, and you can count on us being here next week with more information that you need… and the week after that and the week after that.

Of course, we do change with the times. We’re online and on Facebook and on Twitter. But regardless of the medium you choose to get your Enterprise news through, you can be assured that it is always there for you to keep you better informed.

Your hometown paper has been spreading the word in these parts since 1878, and we’re not stopping anytime soon.