Gar's televised wanton slaughter of coyote disgusting,hard to look at; poor conservation message

It was hard to look at George Garza's wanton slaughter of a coyote on a recent televised installment of GAR Outdoor Adventures that showed you how well a manufactured injured animal call worked to pull coyotes and bobcats out of the monte.

Not only did Garza blame the spread of rabies on coyotes, but he also endorsed the slaughter of bobcats. What a bunch of uninformed hooey and what a bad message to pass on to kids who look up to him as a conservationist.

Rabies in the wild is one thing, and it takes care of itself in the way nature dictates -- but if he's talking about a rabies problem that migrates from the wild to domestic pets, that's a problem with irresponsible pet owners who will not part with a few bucks for vaccines.

He called the dead coyote a “trophy.” On our ranch and on many South Texas ranches, coyotes are part of the ecosystem and part of the sunset serenade. As for bobcats, they eat rabbits, ground squirrels, mice, wood rats, and an occasional quail. Predation by bobcats does not harm healthy game populations.

The televised predation of coyotes and bobcats by camo-covered men with high powered toys sends a really bad message.

Reyna reports a great

work environment

Deirdre Reyna, former editor of the Laredo Morning Times' LMT Business Journal, reports that she is thoroughly enjoying her position as the City Parks and Recreation Department's new public information officer, a position she has held since mid-April.

“I have really enjoyed dealing with people in this capacity, out in the public instead of behind the scenes. The communication is very direct and it's good things we are telling Laredoans about. The City provides such good opportunities for children and families, and my job is telling the public what we offer. I love my job. This is a wonderful environment for teamwork as well as for individual initiative. Good work is praised and good ideas are implemented. Morale is very good.”

The former Marine serves on the board of Habitat for Humanity of Laredo and Webb County Leadership Laredo, and the Laredo Business and Professional Women's Association. She was recently installed as president of Laredo Under Seven Flags Rotary.

As a Marine, Reyna was a photojournalist at Camp Pendleton and 29 Palms.

Raul Leal to UISD

Raul Leal has left the Texas Department of Transportation to become a United Independent School District Communications Specialist for Publications. A former City of Laredo Health Department media specialist for eight years, Leal worked for TxDOT for three years. He is a graduate of Laredo State University with a Bachelor of Arts in applied arts and sciences. He is also a former producer for KGNS-TV and a news photographer for KGNS and KVTV.

TAMU Press offers

outstanding fall releases

Texas A&M University Press has some outstanding fall book offerings on tap, among them Water for Texas, a hard look at the state's defining issue. The forward to the book is written by Dr. Leo Sayavedra and edited by Texas A&M International University professor of biology Dr. Sushma Krishnamurthy; Dr. Jim Norwine, a professor of geography and Regents Professor of Physics and Geoscience at Texas A&M University-Kingsville; and Dr. John R. Giardino, dean of graduate studies at Texas A&M University - College Station, and a geomorphologist with a special interest in the movement of water through the earth.

There are many among us who will be awaiting the October 2004 release of Civil War and Revolution on the Río Grande Frontier, Dr. Jerry Thompson's collaboration with Lawrence T. Jones III, a recognized expert on early Texas photography and the photography of the American West. Thompson, Regents Professor of History at Texas A&M International University , is considered an authority on the Civil War in the Southwest and the history of the Río Grande frontera. War and Revolution on the Río Grande Frontier is published by the Texas State Historical Association.

Look for the September 2004 release of Bryan Wooley's Texas Road Trip, Stories from Across the Great State and a Few Personal Reflections from Texas Christian University Press. No doubt this backroads look at little places big on the map of the heart, Wooley's heart, is rich with nostalgic detail. Wooley, the senior staff writer for the Dallas Morning News, is an accomplished, much admired, and well recognized journalist.

 

Michael Moore:

no Bin Laden left behind

Fahrenheit 9/11 will be released on DVD October 5 and available from Amazon.com and other e-merchandisers for about 19 bucks. You may think Moore is Satan and George Bush a sterling example of intelligence and God-given leadership, but you cannot look away from those six or seven minutes on the Moore film in which the President -- who has just been apprised by White House chief of staff Andrew H. Card, Jr., that a second plane has flown into the World Trade Center -- continues to sit with Sarasota, Florida second graders to read My Pet Goat. It's a positively chilling image, riveting. Your president has been told our country is under attack and he has no reaction except to fidget, look a little uncomfortable, and to read My Pet Goat.

Moore bashers have been quick to discredit the documentary that offers a disquieting look at this administration, beginning with the inauspicious electoral results in Florida .

Moore 's website, www.MichaelMoore.com, answers his detractors with line-by-line documentation for his sources for the information in the 9/11 documentary, not the least of which was the findings of the federal 9/11 Commission. The film, which I found to be well executed, told me something I did not know:

Fahrenheit 9/11 : “On the day George W. Bush was inaugurated, tens of thousands of Americans poured into the streets of D.C. They pelted Bush's limo with eggs.”

• “Shouting slogans like ‘Hail to the Thief' and ‘Selected, Not Elected,' tens of thousands of protesters descended on George W. Bush's inaugural parade route yesterday to proclaim that he and Vice President Dick Cheney had ‘stolen' the election.” Michael Kranish and Sue Kirchhoff, “Thousands Protest ‘Stolen' Election,” Boston Globe , January 21, 2001.

• “Scuffles erupted between radicals and riot police while an egg struck the bullet-proof presidential limousine as it carried Mr. Bush and wife Laura to the White House.” Damon Johnston, “Bush Pledges Justice as Critics Throw Eggs,” The Advertiser s, January 22, 2001.

• See also film footage.

Fahrenheit 9/11 : “The inauguration parade was brought to a halt and the traditional walk to the White House was scrapped.”

• Bush made one concession to the weather -- or to security concerns: He stayed in his limousine nearly the entire length of the mile-long inaugural parade, waving through a slightly foggy window. He got out to walk only for a brief distance when his motorcade reached the VIP grandstands in front of the Treasury Department and the White House. Doyle McManus, et al., “Bush Vows to Bring Nation Together,” Los Angeles Times , January, 21, 2001.

• Bush's limo, which traveled most of the route at a slow walking pace, stopped dead just before it reached the corner of 14th St. and Pennsylvania Ave., where most of the protesters had congregated. Then it sped up dramatically, and Secret Service agents protecting the car on foot had to follow at a full run. When they reached a section of the parade route where the sidewalks were restricted to official ticket holders, Bush and his wife, Laura, who wore a flattering electric turquoise suit, got out of the limo to walk and greet supporters. Helen Kennedy, “Bush Pledges a United US,” New York Daily News , January 21, 2001.

 

There is an excellent web site for de-coding presidential political ads from both parties, www.FactCheck.org at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania .

Another site is www.spinsanity.org, which says it tries to counter rhetoric with reason.

People for the American Way Foundation, www.pfaw.org, is committed to defending democracy and bringing the ideals of community, opportunity, diversity, equality, and fairness together to form a strong, united voice. To achieve this, PFAWF conducts research and legal and education work, as well as monitors and researches the Religious Right movement and its political allies. The organization is a premier source of vital information for policymakers, scholars, and activists nationwide.

For a fact check on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, log on to the Columbia Journalism Review 's Campaign Desk at www.campaigndesk.org to sort truth from fiction in the controversy over John Kerry's military service in Vietnam.

For really extensive dialogue and a collection of news articles on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, log onto Media Matters for America at www.mediamatters.org.

And for a mega-dose all day long of liberal chat, stream Air America on the net, pick it up on your satellite radio (XM 167, Sirius 144), or read all about it at www.airamerica.com.