Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide for Reeves County, Trans Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

Opinion

March 17, 1998

OBSERVATIONS

By Mac McKinnon

Scandal forces families
to discuss moral issues

I also noted that I believe it would be best to wait until
all the information is in. I seriously doubt that we'll ever
know the truth about all these allegations as everyone has a
different version.

The only thing I know for sure is that many lives have
already been ruined, and in many cases tainted, because of
what is being said or not said.

I also have a problem with the news media printing and
broadcasting graphic details about what allegedly happened.
I'm not about to go into all of that as I consider this a
family newspaper and I don't want parents to have to explain
some of the things being said.

Some parents have already told me they have had to talk
about things with their children that they had hoped would
not be a subject for explanation for several years.

I realize that the president is our leader and we should be
able to look to him (or her as the future may dictate) for
many things including morality since we consider ourselves a
moral nation.

I'm not sure just how high our opinion is about our nation's
morality and it could be that we have a lower opinion of
ourselves and our nation by the fact that all these
allegations are basically being ignored by some people.
Clinton was living in a shadow of shame when he was elected
but that didn't seem to phase the voters.

I well remember the days when a person who had been divorced
could not even be considered as a legitimate candidate for
any office. Nelson Rockefeller is one in particular who fell
in that category.

How many people have dropped their candidacy when it was
found out that they had had extramartial affairs? Remember
Gary Hart?

We also look to the president for good judgement. I don't
have any idea if the president is guilty of the allegations
that have been made about his activities but it would seem
that he has opened himself up for these charges by not
conducting himself in a manner that would be above reproach.

I was taught to conduct my life in a manner that would never
place me under suspicion. I believe many other people were
taught the same thing. I'm not saying that I or many other
people learned the lesson we were taught but if we were
suspected of doing something wrong, it was because we didn't
keep ourselves above suspicion. I'm not sure it is possible
to keep oneself above suspicious behaviour throughout our
life but we should try.

It is somewhat amusing to keep track of the reaction to this
situation in Washington as viewed by people in other
nations. Many - particularly those in France - don't
understand what all the fuss is about. French men are
commonly known to have mistresses.

However, our nation has always held itself to be above the
conduct of those in other countries. At least that seems to
be the prevailing attitude or least it used to be.

Whatever the facts are, there is an amazing amount of
pressure on the president. Consider all the problems that a
president faces on a daily basis and then add in the
scandals.

Who would want that job?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mac McKinnon is the Editor and Publisher of
the Pecos Enterprise. He can be e-mailed at:
bigmac@bitstreet.com

Your View

Pecos remembered fondly

To The Editor:
I was recently in Fort Davis and made a special trip to
Pecos. I did so for a number of reasons-during WWII I lived
in Pecos from July, 1942 until June, 1945. My father, like
so many civilians, entered the Army Air Force during the war
and was sent there. He was the seventh officer to arrive at
the Pecos Air Base and its last Commanding Officer.

Temple was our home so you might say we were in the minority
as "transplanted Texans."

At the end of the war my mother wrote a book about Army life
during the war entitled P.S. To Pecos.

Upon my return home (the Temple area) I re-read her book. In
her book she wrote of flies, dust storms and housing
shortages.

What she didn't write about was the love she, my father and
I developed for Pecos, its people and its ways that I think
made better people of all of us and memories she and my
father cherished in the highest order to their deaths.

As I will soon be 68, I doubt many citizens of Pecos will
remember those days, but to those that do, I say "God Bless
and Thank You."

It is my understanding that Pecos has lost population in
recent years and is trying to locate new industry there.

My advice to you is to sell the intangible "its wonderful
people."

Moran Kuykendall
Moody, Tx.

Your View

Tourists attacked by dogs question leash laws

To The Editor:
I recently stopped in the small town of Toyah traveling
through when I stopped to stretch my legs and look at the
old buildings by the tracks when an old red pick-up with
dogs following it drove by.

The dogs attacked me and my wife, fortunately the bite from
one of the dogs didn't draw blood. Never the less it was
very upsetting to us and the driver of the pick-up never did
stop. I guess West Texas has never heard of a leash law.

Concerned Tourist
Mr. And Mrs. Reynolds
Chippewa Falls, Wi.

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