Columns

Readers who are over 40 years old might still have a context for the phrase from a classic country song: “ Here’s a quarter / Call someone who cares…” The updated version of this song might go something like: “ Here’s a burner phone with 100 pre-paid minutes / Feel free to use up those minutes in useless conversation about your ruined love life, since you were so shortsighted as to reject continued investment in our relationship / On the other hand, here’s the number of a Therapist I highly recommend…” OK, the syllables don’t quite fit the original tune – life is just more complicated now.

Dr. Buck VanTrease is the Lead Veterinarian at Van Zandt Veterinary Hospital.

Both my loyal readers will remember that my Papa was a Pastor. I think he got used to speaking to the farmers who made up much of our congregation in the rural Illinois church he pastored when I was very young. They would come to Bible study in overalls and work boots on Wednesday evenings, after a day of plowing, planting, or harvest, and they must have gotten drowsy after an hour or so, because Dad would reassure them, toward the end of his messages, with: “I’m circling for a landing!”.

Fifty years ago, responding to public demand in an era of reform, Texas enacted a sweeping law ensuring the people’s right to know about their government. The Texas Public Information Act – originally known as the Open Records Act when it passed in 1973 – was one of the strongest transparency laws in the nation.

Years ago, as elementary students at a tiny country school, our bus driver took us to school in his huge station wagon. That meant we kids got to talk with him for an entire hour – both ways. Good-natured and chatty, he would entertain us as he drove. True stories, gigantic whoppers, or funny gossip, it was all fair game to that man.

Three bills have been filed in the Texas House aimed at improving Texans ability to practice their religions. The Austin American-Statesman reported that state Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-Euless, filed the bills to expand the state’s list of optional holidays to include more religious holy days; prevent standardized tests being given on those days; and ensure that religious leaders of all faiths can legally perform marriages.

TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION Residents in Central and Northeast Texas are still cleaning up after a winter storm last week snapped power lines and tree limbs, causing widespread power outages, canceled flights and damage to homes and vehicles. At its peak, nearly 400,000 Texas households were without power, according to poweroutage.us.