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Your newspaper has been busy growing

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PublisherPointsThere was a time in my life I did not understand the need for stability, status quo, holding down a solid fort or keeping things consistent. 

Then, about the time I hit the age people generally embrace this type of security, everything in the business I chose to make my career started changing ... drastically ... quickly. The bottom line is for the past several years, the newspaper industry has undergone change and we have worked to change and grow with the times.

Some of you may not realize what changes this newspaper has made to remain relevant, and a healthy part of the community and East Texas. I invite you to take look at our progress: 

1. We now provide news on several platforms. These include: a print newspaper delivered via USPS and sold on newsstands, an e-edition newspaper delivered via email, twice weekly news updates (Monday Morning Coffee and Weekender Updates) also delivered via email in the form of a newsletter, social media news updates, and finally, a news website available 24/7 at eastttexasnews.com. 

2. Our reach is over 110,000 people each month on five different platforms in our region of East Texas. This is an excellent opportunity for advertisers to get people into their stores or websites to buy their product or service. We provide a stable and consistently growing amount of traffic with our news readers. 

3. Our company also has several magazines including a monthly real estate guide; a quarterly regional magazine the East Texan, a bi-annual Houston County magazine, and an annual magazine in Polk County and Tyler County. 

When you visit easttexasnews.com, please enter a contest and/or encourage your friends and family to enter. It is fun, community related, seasonally inspired, and you might just win a great prize. You are also able to track legal notices that appear in this county and around the state of Texas. Soon, we will be adding obituaries for viewing and online research. 

It is an honor to provide news and advertising opportunities to this community and East Texas. You are the reason we exist. Anytime you want to discuss something, please contact me, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or the staff at your newspaper. 

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Hollow Men

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Jim Opionin

by Jim Powers
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We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us-if at all-not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men…
                             T.S. Eliot

The modernist poet T.S. Eliot wrote this poem in 1925. He was writing in post WW1 Europe and was concerned with a sense of hopelessness at the time. The poem is much longer than this first stanza, but the theme set first here continues.

“Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion;” pretty much sums up his characterization of the Hollow Men, men who are spiritually and morally empty. They, in fact, have no values at all, living lives that are meaningless.

Steve Bannon, a former adviser to then President Donald Trump, was sentenced yesterday to four months in prison and a $6500 fine for Contempt of Congress in refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena. The Department of Justice prosecuted him, a grand jury indicted him, a jury found him guilty, and a Judge sentenced him. But that judge then announced that Bannon could remain a free man pending an appeal. Bannon is a wealthy man. He could stretch the appeals process potentially out for years. The Judge’s decision to stay the sentence was a gift Bannon did nothing to deserve.

The problem I have with this result is that it is unequal justice. You or I, unless you have much more influence than I have, would have likely been held in jail pending the trial, much less allowed free pending appeal. After all, there was no question about whether he was guilty. He defied a lawful subpoena. Simply said he wasn’t going to participate in the legal process. Why is he still a free man? Modern times.

More concerning, though, is what Bannon represents. Bannon is a Hollow Man. He has made it explicitly clear that he has no core values. He respects no law, no government, no man other than himself. He advocates anarchy, says he wants to deconstruct democracy and the state. He is a wealthy man whose only interest is personal wealth and power. The concerning thing, though, is that he is surrounded by an increasingly large number of very powerful Hollow Men that have embedded themselves in positions of leadership in our government and society. Including a lot of judges.

I guess the thing I most can’t understand is why people I know have values themselves seem to be drawn to men who have no values. Men who have publicly flip-flopped over the years as easily as they change their socks each day. 

Donald Trump was a Democrat before he was a Republican, Pro-Choice before Pro-Life, he notoriously doesn’t like to pay his bills, cheats on his taxes, lies to banks, drops people the moment they disagree with him. He is a Hollow Man with no core values, only wealth, power and control of others interests him. And yet, millions of people believe he is the Messiah, sent from God to save the earth. Steve Bannon wearing nicer clothes, who also wants anarchy, to deconstruct democracy and the state.

I’m not hopeful we are going to survive as a society much longer. If we are no longer willing to examine our own values, and reject people who have no values, then we are lost. If we are willing to vote against our own interests, supporting people who clearly hate democracy, then there is no hope.

These midterm elections may be the last democratically held elections in this country. I’ve heard too many republican candidates refuse to say they would accept the outcome of the midterms if they did not win. I have heard several of them say they would not. They seem determined to end democracy, win or lose. Despite the very real risk that this could be a failed election, and the end of democracy, voting is the only shot we have at saving it.

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Decision making time

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Horace McQueen ColumnBy Horace McQueen

November is coming up fast—and what cattle folks have on tap for winter has to be addressed. What grass most of us have left is going fast. Winter pasture programs are few and far between. Moisture is the limiting factor. And for our producers the cost factor and timing doesn’t work out. The cost of fertilizer and seed is just too much of a gamble. High dollar hay and added protein in the form of cubes or molasses blocks or lick feeders will see lots of use. If the hay is exceptional quality—10% protein or more—it can carry a cow through tough times. But if the cow is nursing a calf, store-bought protein has to be added. 

Sale barns are recording big runs of cattle. At the same time feedlot buyers are backing off on their price offers on yearlings. Then there is the problem with what looks to be a severe lack of wheat acres for winter grazing. Those lighter weight calves that would normally be bought for wheat grazing have lost a lot of their allure to buyers in recent weeks—with some calves down as much as 20-cents a pound from a month ago.  One thing for sure is that the number of cows will be limited at least for 2023-24. That could well result in some high dollar breeding cattle over the next three years. Some folks are planning to keep raising cattle while others are getting ready to clear the pastures of bovines. Regardless, we will have a smaller cow herd and a reduction in the number of ranchers as we move forward. 

For producers who want to see a top notch set of Brahman cattle, the Cow Country Congress is coming up this Friday, Oct. 21. The multi-county event takes place at the Windy Hill Ranch at 3414 FM 1452 just outside Madisonville. Registration starts at 8 a.m. The cost is $20 a person and a chuck wagon lunch will be served. Program topics are the economic outlook for the cattle business, agricultural law issues, embryo transfer technologies in a drouth and lots more. After lunch a tour of the ranch is on the agenda. Call the Madison County Agents office to reserve your place at 936-348-2234.

And this about Texas A&M and the record number of students enrolled this fall. The report is that 74,829 students are signed up. The A&M enrollment is the largest in the state of Texas and one of the largest in the nation.

For this go-round, that’s –30—This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Committee focuses on environment

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As we near the 2022 General Election Day on Nov. 8, I’d like to offer a friendly reminder that the early voting period will begin on Oct. 24 and will end on Nov. 4. 

Trent AshbyWhile I always encourage folks to take advantage of the early voting period to avoid Election Day lines, what’s most important is that you plan to participate in the process by exercising your right to vote. 

For more information about early voting locations, what you’ll need to bring with you to the polling locations, or any other questions you may have, please visit www.votetexas.gov. 

With that, we’ll dive back into our examination of House interim charges.

The House Committee on Environmental Regulation is up next on our tour of House Committees. With nine sitting members, the Committee focuses on policies relating to air, land, and water pollution, waste disposal, and the regulation of industrial development as it pertains to the environment. 

The House Committee on Environmental Regulation also oversees several state agencies, including the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission. 

Like most committees, Environmental Regulation will monitor policies enacted during the 87th Legislative Session to ensure the implementation of the measures align with the intent of the legislation. 

For instance, HB 1680 streamlines the regulation of on-site sewage disposal systems on federal land leases by establishing that each tract of leased land is considered separate to allow lessees to update or replace their existing septic systems. 

Another bill, HB 4472 amends the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) to expand the number of projects eligible for grant funding, while also allowing for enhanced investments in our state’s infrastructure funding. 

In addition to the review of HB 4472, the Committee has also been tasked with evaluating the TERP program’s effectiveness and identifying unrealized opportunities that would further the program’s goal. 

The Committee has been charged to review the recent passage of the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and how the federal funds may be used to complement the state’s efforts to clean up polluted sites, plug wells, and carry out various pollution mitigation initiatives. 

The Committee will also monitor various federal regulations that could directly impact the state’s economic development, manufacturing, and industrial activities within the purview of the House Committee on Environmental Regulation, including regulations adopted or proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency. 

As always, please do not hesitate to contact my office if we can help you in any way. My district office may be reached at (936) 634-2762. Additionally, I welcome you to follow along on my Official Facebook Page, where I will post regular updates on what’s happening in your State Capitol and share information that could be useful to you and your family: https://www.facebook.com/RepTrentAshby/.

Trent Ashby represents District 57, soon to be District 9, which includes Trinity County, in the Texas Legislature.

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Remember the real issues when you drop the ballot

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FromEditorsDesk Tony CroppedBy Tony Farkas
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Next week, Monday actually, starts the biennual election process.

This being a mid-year election (based on the benchmark of a presidential election), traditionally there is a very low voter turnout.

Locally, that becomes even worse since many of the races for county-level offices were decided in the primary election back in May.

There are some elections of note, however, that have a bearing on the direction of both the state and the country, such as governor, the District 8 representative, county judges, state representatives and senators, etc., etc., etc.

I’ve covered elections for close to 40 years in several states. Part of that coverage, which I’ve pointed out in numerous columns, concern themselves with issues that bear discussion. While my tack has mostly been pointed toward liberty and limited government, I am opining on what I find important. Those things drive my vote.

As time has worn on, elections have shifted from candidates hoping to represent their districts to something akin to school prom royalty elections. Issue campaigns have been replaced with candidates buying votes with promises of federal and state gravy (“Vote for me and it’s all chocolate milk in the cafeteria all the time!”).

Legislators have taken on some sort of cult-like aura and act as if the government is not just the best solution to everything, but the only solution, and anyone not drinking that flavor of Kool-Aid is a demon. Issues no longer matter; just blind and unquestioning obedience.

Of course, many in the media have taken to parroting the party line, and whatever they say is supposed to be swallowed as truth.

All of that is to say that I really think the system is broken, or at least, in the weeds.

There is a remedy. It’s always been there. Problem is, the way the system has been broken, that remedy has been dismissed as ineffective, and because of the cult-like operation of power, along with the soothing lies passed on by officials and solons alike, it has instilled a certain apathy in the citizenry.

That remedy, of course, is the vote.

Voting is like exercise and must be done in order for the country to right itself. It’s a process that takes minutes but has an effect that lasts for years.

In all of my screeds, while I have singled out liberals and their strange amalgamation of groupthink and divide and conquer leadership, I do want to make it clear that the same brush paints many conservatives as well. It’s not just one side or the other now. The only difference, as I see it, is that conservatives have a lot of the same goals, they’ll just take longer to achieve them, while liberals are tired of waiting and want you to bend the knee right away — for your own good, of course.

What really needs to happen here is for any and all voters to not only exercise their rights, but to do research on the candidates and cast votes for the person that best fits. If there’s time, the put in some effort as well to campaign for the right candidate.

This might seem like more of the same — why bother since the game’s rigged anyway — but the mess politics are in didn’t happen overnight, and it won’t get fixed overnight. It starts with us, and with us taking our responsibility of “government of the people, by the people and for the people” seriously.

Tony Farkas is editor of the San Jacinto News-Times and the Trinity County News-Standard. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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