Opinion

IN LAST WEEK’S REPORT on the City Council fielding HOT fund requests (Thursday, March 3, 2022, pages 8-9) we reported incorrectly that the Chamber receives an annual 25 percent allocation of hotel occupancy tax funds collected by the city. The Chamber actually receives 50 percent of the HOT funds collected here. The city retains 25 percent of those receipts, and allocates the remaining 25 percent to the River Valley Pioneer Museum. We also reported that the Chamber’s projected budget for 2019-20 was $68,000. The Chamber received only $30,522 for that year, and had actual expenses of $29,733.

I’D MAKE A WAGER that most of us live our whole lives without ever actually seeing first-hand how the sausage is made on a typical election night in America. It’s likely I never would have, had I not found myself thrust into the position of knocking out news for The Record.

WHAT IF, DURING A NATIONAL emergency, thousands of American citizens—never accused of any crime—were locked up in rudimentary camps in isolated, rural areas behind barbed-wire fences with guard towers equipped with searchlights and jeeps patrolling the perimeter, manned by soldiers with orders to shoot any prisoner getting too close to those fences?

SUNDAY IS THE 80th birthday of Mitch McConnell, Kentucky’s most accomplished politician save Henry Clay. McConnell has often cited Clay as his ideal, but Clay was an architect of bipartisan compromises that kept the Union together before the Civil War; McConnell’s history is different.

CLARIFICATION: In our report, two weeks ago, on the apportionment of the Canadian Apartment complex demolition costs among Hemphill County’s five taxing entities, we were unable to confirm whether a motion to approve the expense before Hemphill County Hospital District board of directors had actually passed. We have since received assurance that the 2-1 vote—with Karen Gullett and Colby Leach in favor—and Sharon Carr opposed, did indeed pass. Although Jesse Hanes had indicated his support for the measure, he was unable to cast an official vote because he attended the meeting remotely. — LEB

EARLY VOTING BEGAN on Monday, which was also Valentine’s Day and the anniversary of the 2021 polar vortex that caused blackouts that killed more than 200 Texans and possibly as many as 700. Voters have a lot of things to consider when they go vote this year. This list is incomplete, but it’s a start.

Mail-in ballot applications rejected at high rate Mail-in ballot applications for the March 1 primary are being rejected by almost 40 percent—largely because of a missing ID number, which is now required after a new voting bill passed the Legislature last year. The Houston Chronicle reported that nearly 4 in 10 Harris County mail ballot applications had been rejected as of last week.

THE FALLOUT OVER THE Republican National Committee’s statement censuring Representatives Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) for “participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse” continues to rain down on the Republican Party.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the Postal Service Reform Act, HR 3076, by a vote of 342 to 92, sending a landmark postal bill to the Senate for consideration. The bill would accomplish several goals pursued by National Newspaper Association since debate on saving universal mail service commenced in recent years.

I have been in Canadian for three years, almost down to the day. It seems like yesterday, I was unpacking my things in preparation for my new role of NRCS district conservationist for Hemphill County.