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OPINION

July 25, 1997

OBSERVATIONS


By Mac McKinnon

Graceland is only one
of Memphis' sights


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I wrote last week about my recent vacation and some of the places I
went, etc.
I realize a lot of people don't give a hoot about all that, but my
point is that some people like to know about possible places to travel
and what there is to see.

As always when you travel, you learn a lot about different cities and
states. There is never enough time to stop and see all the things that
available up and down the road in any direction you might wish to travel.

Let me give you one example. How many people have been to Memphis,
Tenn.?
Probably not many people from here have been and I've only been around
the town a few times before, driving on the outskirts. Before this trip,
we read something about a special exhibit. However, we forgot exactly
what that exhibit was and figured we could find out about it once we got
there.

Of course, everyone - just about - knows that Memphis is where
Graceland is. That's Elvis' home. We didn't tour it but drove by and got
the lay of the land.

But Memphis has far more than Graceland. There is Mud Island which is a
very interesting place. We got to see it but didn't have time to wander
around and look at the layout of the Mississippi. There are paddle wheel
steamer rides on the Big Muddy but no time for that.

The exhibit we were looking for turned out to be a traveling exhibit on
artifacts from the Titanic. We've always been interested in everything
about that "unsinkable" ship and the exhibit was well worth the time and
money to tour it. Most of the hotels have packages for the tour. It will
only be there for a little more than another month and then it goes
somewhere else - I'm not sure where.

That exhibit is in what is called The Pyramid - a pyramid shaped
building (naturally) on the edge of the Mississippi that dominates the
landscape as you come into town from the West.

I'd heard that Memphis was the home of Beall Street (I'm not sure of
the spelling) but had forgotten about it. That location is mecca for
blues fans. B. B. King has a club there. I'm not a big blues fan but
would have enjoyed spending a little time there. Of course, there wasn't
enough time to enjoy that either.

As you might have figured out, you could spend an entire vaction just
in Memphis as you can in most of the cities and areas we passed through.

Gambling is available just a short distance from Memphis in Mississippi
but we didn't have time for that either.

Tennessee has a lot to offer tourists. One thing I don't recommend that
we did stop to see was Casey Jones' village. In case you don't know
about Casey Jones, he was the legendary railroad man who engineered old
99, as the song goes.

Then there is Nashville, country music capital of the world. I probably
don't need to say anything else about that but do recommend that
everyone go see Opryland Hotel, even if you don't stay there. It has
beautiful gardens with waterfalls and almost every kind of plant
imaginable. Just beautiful.

It had almost as many plants and maybe more than the Botanical Gardens
in Washington, D.C.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mac McKinnon is editor and publisher of the Pecos Enterprise. His column appears on Friday.

YOUR VIEWS

Wine with dinner tale was totally false


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Dear Editor:
I am writing regarding your article printed in the March 25, 1997,
issue of the Pecos Enterprise, subtitled, "Tennis Coaches Replaced
Following El Paso Incident."

In that article, unnamed "school officials'' were alleged to have said
that "...wine was served to ... students during their dinner...," while
those students were at the Olive Garden Restaurant with me in El Paso. I
want to assure you and your readers that no students were served wine or
any alcoholic beverage while with me at that restaurant, or anywhere
else in El Paso so far as I know. While we were in the restaurant, a
waitress asked me if I wanted to order wine and several of the players
kiddingly said they did. I told them they couldn't, and the waitress
also told them that she could not serve alcohol to underage guests.

I am distressed that parents and members of the public in the school
district may have thought that I would allow students to have alcohol
while under my supervision. I hope this sets the record straight. -- Brandon Lee

OTHER VIEWS

Hold up awhile on death penalty


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Since 1977, when the death penalty was reinstated in Illinois, the
state has executed eight people for their crimes. Meanwhile, nine men
sitting on Death Row have been freed after evidence came to light which
proved they were innocent.

Meanwhile, a recent federal study shows that over the last four years,
Illinois has exonerated more Death Row inmates than any other state -
seven of the 21 released in the U.S. during that time. As a result, the
Washington D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center has requested a
moratorium on implementing the death penalty here until what is viewed
as a fundamentally flawed system can be studied and remedied.

The statistics above speak to two truths, one positive, one negative.
First, at least we in Illinois have been able to detect and then to own
up to our mistakes. The appeals process did its job. Second, mistakes
were made originally that could have cost some innocent men their lives
if there weren't some diligent attorneys ... working only to compensate
their consciences. The disproportionate number of those near-fatal
errors in Illinois is alarming and reason enough, in our minds, to
justify a limited review and moratorium.

-- Journal Star, Peoria, Ill.

Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail: news@bitstreet.com
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Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
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