editorials

April 30 -- Leave lottery to professionals hired to run it (ARN Editorial): Texas legislators can't seem to keep from playing games with the lottery.

April 30 -- It's a 'killer' bee if ... (ARN Editorial): As Jeff "You May Be a Redneck" Foxworthy might say if asked how to recognize Africanized or "killer" bees:

April 30 -- Gramm bids for 'meanest man' title (Molly Ivins Column): AUSTIN -- First, a salute to Sen. Phil Gramm, who's been trying hard for the title of Meanest Man in the United States and now just may have earned it.

April 30 -- Desperately seeking Susan McDougal (Cal Thomas Column): That was some performance last week by members of Susan McDougal's family. At a news conference across from the Little Rock courthouse, McDougal's father, mother, three brothers and a niece lined up as character witnesses for her, while blasting independent counsel Kenneth Starr. They said Starr has "tortured" Susan and that she was ready to go back to jail rather than cooperate with the investigation.

April 29 -- City keeps up leading role in welfare reform (ARN Editorial): Abilene's private sector has gained statewide recognition for its efforts to move people from welfare to work. It seems our public sector hasn't been doing so badly, either.

April 29 -- Games of campaign finance reform (Linda Chavez Column): It's hard to know who are the worse hypocrites these days. Is it the Democrats, who pretend to want to limit campaign contributions while their party does everything it can to skirt current laws? Or the Republicans, who won't admit to the American public what they know to be true -- that limits never work because clever people will always find ways around them?

April 29 -- Three years of silence from Richard (Bob Greene Column): Three years ago this week -- on April 30, 1995 -- the 4-year-old boy known as Richard was taken from the adoptive family he loved, was loaded in tears into a waiting van and driven away from his home in Schaumburg, Ill.

April 28 -- City, airlines could gain by lower air fares (ARN Editorial): If you're in Chicago and want to fly a couple of hundred miles to South Bend, Ind., or Grand Rapids, Mich., for the weekend, you can get a three-day round-trip ticket for $88 on a commuter airline. If you're in Abilene and find out you need to be in Dallas or Austin tomorrow, it could cost you $300 - one way.

April 28 -- Sexual harassment eruptions frustrating (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON - Is it my imagination, or are even the justices getting a touch frustrated by the sexual harassment eruptions in their courtroom?

April 28 -- Rapid doubling of useless knowledge (George Will): WASHINGTON - At the conclusion of his State of the Union Address in January President Clinton issued a remarkable bulletin: "The entire store of human knowledge now doubles every five years." It is not completely clear what exactly he meant.

April 27 -- Secret Service no protection against felony (ARN Editorial): The Secret Service, no less than any other federal law enforcement agency, should not be immune from questioning by a prosecutor or testifying in court or before a grand jury.

April 27 -- U.S. home ownership (ARN Editorial): Another sign that these times are good times in the United States could be found in a couple of reports about home ownership the other day.

April 27 -- RICO's threat to free expression (Cal Thomas): The decision by a federal jury in Chicago to invoke the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) and convict two pro-life groups and three pro-life leaders of extortion is a serious blow to the First Amendment and its traditional protection of protest and dissent.

April 27 -- 'Smear' tactics against Republicans? (Joseph Spear): Republicans lost their cool a few days ago when a prominent Democrat threatened to drag some skeletons out of GOP closets if they begin to pursue Bill Clinton with too much fire and gusto.

April 26 -- 1st Amendment essential, even when we squirm (ARN Editorial): First Amendment issues are rarely fought on easy or pleasant grounds. The cases often involve pornography or worse, like murder.

April 26 -- Secret Service agents should not testify against the president (ARN Editorial): WASHINGTON -- Maybe Clint Eastwood's derring-do in the movie "In the Line Of Fire" overhyped U.S. Secret Service agents as stoical hard cases wasting would-be assassins in a hail of gunfire. But not by much.

April 26 -- Bilingual education valuable in Texas (Steve Ray Column): It was a trip to Mexico in the early 1980s, and the taxi was late getting me to the airport. The plane had left, and I couldn't find anyone who spoke English or could understand my faltering Spanish.

April 26 -- Cats on the brain, or the head, anyway (Sharon Randall Column): I find it hard to work with a live animal on my head. But then, I've always been easily distracted.

April 26 -- Enduring 46-day trip to purgatory isn't so bad after all (Charles Felix Column): It seems common to our culture to turn away less fortunate individuals and often regard them as little more than animals. They are often little more than the butt of jokes.

April 26 -- Concern about crime should translate into concern about crime victims' rights (Janice Hamilton Column): Nearly everyone in our community has been touched by crime. When one person is hurt by crime -- a family member or friend, neighbor or co-worker -- we all feel a collective pain. That's why today, as never before, victims' rights are right for America and for Abilene.

April 26 -- Ferguson exercising fundamental right (Joel Schuler Column): I'm troubled by the apparent slant of coverage in the Wylie School Board race. Anthony Wilson wrote a story, "Teen's entry into Wylie school board election costing taxpayers," that implied school board candidate Brian Ferguson was "stealing from schoolchildren" to the tune of $1,500 because he filed for a seat on the school board. The source of the charge isn't expressly mentioned, but the story structure suggests the charge may have been made by Wylie Superintendent Cecil Davis.

April 25 -- Responsibility more valuable than TV codes (ARN Editorial): Joseph Lieberman and William Bennett may be wrong in one specific, but they are surely right in their broad message. The Democratic senator from Connecticut and the former U.S. secretary of education argued in Las Vegas during a meeting there of the National Association of Broadcasters that the group should reinstate the TV code of conduct that prevailed until the 1970s.

April 25 -- Reporter-News salutes: Recognizing groups and individuals who make a difference in the Big Country

April 25 -- Congress playing it safe on HMOs (Morton Kondracke Column): Thankfully, Congress is unlikely to respond to public anger at HMOs with heavily regulatory legislation this year. Unfortunately, it's not likely to give patients more health-care choices and information either.

April 25 -- New clothes for the baseball emperor (Bob Greene Column): ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The emperor's new clothes -- or, more accurately, the emperor's new stadium -- went on display here this spring. Few seemed to notice the essential nakedness of it all.

April 24 -- Volunteers help make education work at its best (ARN Editorial): Teachers will all agree: They can't do it alone.

April 24 -- Bang, bang, you're sued (ARN Editorial): The American legal theory that "everyone is a victim, no one is responsible" got another boost this week.

April 24 -- Getting the needle exchange point (Ellen Goodman Column): BOSTON -- Sooner or later, anyone who makes a living offering up opinions gets asked the same question: "Have you ever changed your mind?" After the ink is dry, after the column is sent into the electronic ozone, have you ever disagreed with you?

April 24 -- Civil rights enforcers still overreaching (George Will Column): WASHINGTON -- Nine years ago the Federal Communications Commission became displeased by the employment practices of two radio stations on the suburban St. Louis campus of Concordia Seminary of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The FCC's efforts to bully the stations have now backfired wonderfully.

April 23 -- Tobacco deal scuttled due to greed for loot (ARN Editorial): It was greed that killed a deal between Washington's political powers and the tobacco industry, and if some people think the deal's demise is a sure boon for the public welfare, they're mistaken.

April 23 -- Republican clowns already sent in (Molly Ivins Column): SAN FRANCISCO -- Cultural update from the Bay Area: When last I stopped on these shores, many natives were still searching for their Inner Child, a complex and laborious process. Good news! A new course of therapy now helps the hopeful get in touch with their Inner Clown.

April 23 -- Educating or preserving an institution? (Cal Thomas Column): One of the most important debates in this Congress is about to begin over the future of our children.

April 22 -- Starr capable of investigating own witness (ARN Editorial): The Whitewater investigation has an abiding Dogpatch quality that just won't go away. Key records turn up in the trunk of a clunker car abandoned at a transmission shop, and now a falling out between the proprietor of a live bait shop and his ex-girlfriend has become critical to the investigation.

April 22 -- The rewards of virtue (ARN Editorial): College football has endowed the vocabulary of sports with such terms as "true freshman" and "fifth year senior." Could Peyton Manning add another -- "master's candidate"?

April 22 -- Abandoning race preferences helps (Linda Chavez Column): Ever since California's two top public universities released figures showing a dramatic drop in black and Hispanic enrollment in the wake of the state's ban on racial preferences, commentators have been wringing their hands about the unfairness of it all. But at least one opponent of racial preferences has not been scared off by the brouhaha -- Rep. Frank Riggs, R-Calif., who has announced plans to introduce a federal law to bar colleges receiving federal funds from using racial preferences to admit students.

April 22 -- Of hunting, killing and lessons to kids: BANKS, Miss. -- As Andrew Golden, 11, and Mitchell Johnson, 13, sit in their jail cells in Arkansas, people in that state, people here in neighboring Mississippi, people all over the South talk about children and guns -- specifically, they discuss what is being said about the tradition in the South of teaching children to shoot early in life.

April 21 -- Private sector's drug tests could aid public fight in war on drugs (ARN Editorial): Many larger American businesses have adopted drug screening tests to enforce a "not in my back yard" policy toward drug use by their employees and prospective employees. Perhaps we should think about expanding that approach beyond the individual back yard to cover the whole corporate neighborhood.

April 21 -- Leadership's function (ARN Editorial): A new poll shows that America's leaders - members of Congress, presidential appointees and senior civil servants - do not believe the American people know enough about the issues to decide wisely what should be done.

April 21 -- Deciding what organic really means (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON - This is not your everyday political event. How often does a grass-roots movement ask the government to regulate its own enterprise? When was the last time small operators rose up to bitterly complain that government rules and regulations weren't strict enough?

April 21 -- GOP's record refutes party's claims (George Will): WASHINGTON - The off-year voting 20 years ago was conservatism's sunrise. In June 1978 Californians presaged the national tax revolt by passing Proposition 13, limiting property taxes. And in November five liberal Democratic senators were defeated.

April 20 -- Despite fears, the CPI bomb never went off (ARN Editorial): Unless the senior citizens' lobbies squawk, few people will notice the final installment in a statistical change that had Congress terrified beyond belief.

April 20 -- Starr digs in for fight (ARN Editorial): Whoever in the Clinton White House was sniping at special prosecutor Kenneth Starr for his alleged links to a right-wing millionaire is probably now having deep second thoughts.

April 20 -- Analyzing the possible birth of a new nation (Cal Thomas): The 1998 "off-year" campaign for control of Congress has started earlier than usual, is likely to be more expensive than ever and, in the end, will probably produce minimal change to the status quo of divided government.

April 20 -- Banks merging against the flow of law (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN - Anyone with any remaining doubts about how the world wags nowadays need only have read last week's headlines, in which two giant corporations, Citibank and the Travelers Group, calmly announced that they were running roughshod over the law.

April 19 -- Versie Brown, Kay Alexander for City Council (ARN Editorial): After the lively demise of the library bond issue last fall, Abilene residents might be forgiven for thinking City Hall has settled into a quiet, almost boring routine.

April 19 -- Christensen, Batts Benham for schools (ARN Editorial): Abilene school district voters are facing the most important board election in six years.

April 19 -- Social conservatives take hits (Steve Ray Column): Social conservatives took it on the chin in the Texas Republican primary and could leave the political ring badly bruised after losing to more moderate contenders.

April 19 -- Clinton's dilemma on mergers (Ann McFeatters Column): WASHINGTON -- There's a saying in America: Beware of ordering too many blank checks at once; the name of your bank probably will change once or twice before you use them all.

April 19 -- Using a dull knife to cut apron strings (Sharon Randall Column): Mama said there'd be days like this.

April 19 -- Non-genetic families provide support, comfort (Mickey Griggs Column): The value and need for strong and healthy families is undergoing increasing discussion and attention individually and via the media. And rightly so.

April 19 -- Time to return to old-fashioned discipline for today's children (Lewis Arrington Column): I have listened to and read almost all of the news reports and editorials concerning the Jonesboro shooting. So far some of the asserted causes are abortions, sexual abuse, lack of parental involvement, child abuse, both parents working, child care, violence on television, violence in movies, lax gun laws and a breakdown in society. If I've missed any, I'm sure I've covered the basics.

April 19 -- Permit may teach more than driving (Carol Lackey Column): My popularity as a mother has increased by leaps and bounds. Or, should I say, by streets, blocks and turn signals.

April 19 -- The public's health is every citizen's responsibility: Who's idea was public health, anyway?

April 18 -- A mass killer dies in his bed (ARN Editorial): Pol Pot is dead. A suitable epitaph would be: Good riddance.

April 18 -- Bring on the barbecue: Congratulations once again to the organizers and all the workers responsible for the 33rd Annual Armed Forces Barbecue.

April 18 -- You on that stamp -- straighten up (Bob Greene Column): SANTA ANA, Calif.-- I reached across the table to borrow a Jimi Hendrix postage stamp so that I could mail a letter.

April 18 -- Policies in Middle East remain flawed: President Clinton deserves credit for his role in securing a peace agreement between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.

April 17 -- FCC takes hit in quota ruling (ARN Editorial): The Federal Communications Commission has been insisting on racial hiring quotas at radio and TV stations for about 30 years, while saying they weren't quotas at all.

April 17 -- America's upside-down food fight (Ellen Goodman Column): BOSTON -- This is not your everyday political event.

April 17 -- Republican 'skit' drawing to a close: WASHINGTON -- Several political developments, taken together, are closing the curtain on the skit that began with the 1994 congressional elections. Those elections, Republicans vowed, would alter national arguments by adding a new constitutional sensibility -- actually, an old one so neglected as to seem new. This sensibility would question the utility and propriety of many federal interventions in problems that are rightfully the province of other governments, or of no governments.

April 16 -- Bank mergers need more than cursory review (ARN Editorial): It's spring, a time of year when weddings proliferate, but who would have thought that mega-banks would be marching thunderously down the aisle? The bigger question is whether bliss will ensue from the major mergers recently announced -- bliss for the banks themselves, for their employees, for customers and for the economy.

April 16 -- Adding up hidden costs of taxation (Cal Thomas Column): The last time there was a debate about taxes, Democrats wanted to make sure "the rich" paid their "fair share." As usual, Republicans lost the debate because they were unable to counter the presupposition that government, no matter how big, is good, and people who want to keep more of what they earn are greedy and lacking compassion.

April 16 -- Intellectuals' soiree on world affairs (Molly Ivins Column): BOULDER, Colo. -- The 50th anniversary of the Conference on World Affairs, which movie critic Roger Ebert once dubbed "the leisure of the theory class," was chugging along last week with an impressive display of pyrotechnically brilliant verbiage (and a few snorers) on the usual amazing assortment of topics.

April 15 -- Time to reject our tax code's complexities (ARN Editorial): Well, the income tax filing deadline has come, and if you did all the arithmetic yourself and found it a snap, you are a cleverer human being than most of your fellow Americans. A majority of them, it's reported, deemed it necessary to rely on professionals, who themselves may have been confused.

April 15 -- Taking your vitamins (ARN Editorial): Even though taking vitamins has been a popular idea in America for years, it hasn't always been so popular with the medical community.

April 15 -- Old storm shelter smart move after all (Rheta Grimsley Johnson Column): FISHTRAP HOLLOW, Miss. -- I make several passes with the mower before stopping to think about it. The hole in the side of the hill is as much a part of the landscape as the house, or the hackberry tree.

April 15 -- Bill Clinton's 'execution presidency' (Richard Horn Column): Bill Clinton may be the most maligned president ever, but for all the wrong reasons.

April 14 -- Casting ballot today will pack heavier punch (ARN Editorial): Maybe you think you can't vote in today's runoff elections because you didn't vote in the March 10 primaries. You'd be wrong.

April 14 -- Big tobacco's loud corporate villainy (Ellen Goodman): BOSTON - My, how I had missed them. Their sheer nerve, their unabridged bluster, their unparalleled corporate villainy.

April 14 -- Developing conservatism of Jeb Bush (George Will): FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - "When are we going to read Lord of the Flies?" a boy asks no one in particular. The boy, who probably regards that book as a guide to sound governance, does not distract the visiting gubernatorial candidate, who has his young audience purring.

April 13 -- Cornyn's legal experience is deciding factor (ARN Editorial): The Republican runoff for Texas attorney general soon turned rancorous, even without street-fighter Tom Pauken in the race.

April 13 -- Balance on the court (ARN Editorial): Texans dodged a bullet in two crowded Republican Court of Criminal Appeals March primary races. In the five-person race for Place 1 and the eight-person contest for Place 2, none of the candidates who made it to the runoff is a clunker like Steve Mansfield, who managed to get elected to the state's highest criminal bench two years ago.

April 13 -- CBS winning the race to the sewer (Cal Thomas): The once-great Columbia Broadcasting System, which mined a lot of gold during television's Golden Age with such talents and shows as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, "CBS Playhouse" and Ed Sullivan, and more recently has presented the uplifting and highly rated "Touched by an Angel" and the family-oriented "Promised Land," is now about to grant legitimacy to Howard Stern, the king of all filth.

April 13 -- Wasting good cash on job training (Molly Ivins): AUSTIN -- It is incumbent upon the devout liberal's heart to bleed at any and all provocation, so imagine how disconcerted I was to find that not a single drop of sympathy could be squeezed out for a group of our fellow citizens in a pretty pickle.

April 12 -- Public dialogue needed about tornado sirens (ARN Editorial): Two Holy Week tornadoes in Alabama were among the deadliest in recent years. There's a striking similarity in that both struck when church services were in progress. But there is a striking difference also.

April 12 -- Easter's promise of faith (ARN Editorial): When you are a child, you hop up on Easter morning, and maybe you hunt for Easter eggs and maybe you find a basket of brightly wrapped candy. If you are lucky, the sun's shining and you can romp around outside without a coat. You notice that the flowers are blooming and that the birds are chirping. The dreariness of winter is gone. Everything has been reborn. It all seems very special.

April 12 -- Life with no parole option desirable (Steve Ray Column): It has been two months since Karla Faye Tucker, the ax killer turned born-again Christian, was executed for a murder she committed 14 years before her death.

April 12 -- Watch that wallet; an election's coming (Ann McFeatters Column): WASHINGTON -- The current guessing game in Washington is no longer did he or didn't he with an intern, with a volunteer, with a former employee, with a former Miss America.

April 12 -- New widow celebrating the gift of life (Sharon Randall Column): When I told my sister I was going to Hawaii alone, you'd have thought I said I was going to hell in a hand-basket.

April 12 -- Anybody could have seen that Jones' suit would fail (Mack Eastus Column): What are we to think of Paula Corbin Jones and her much-ballyhooed "sexual harassment" suit against President Clinton?

April 12 -- Children must be taught appropriate ways of expressing basic emotions (Doug Worthington Column): In a world in which children seem to be exhibiting levels of violence that are strikingly unchildlike, the question of how to rear children takes on new sense of immediacy for parents and professionals.

April 12 -- Closing bases at home not right strategy now (Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison Column): In a recent report to Congress, Secretary of Defense William Cohen called for another round of military base closures "to support our forces today and in the future." In unveiling that report, he hit on the right question when he asked if the United States military will "remain the preeminent military power in the future."

April 12 -- The world needs more people like Millard Fuller (Ann Marie Graham Column): The world needs more Millard Fullers.

April 11 -- Reporter-News salutes: Recognizing groups and individuals who make a difference in the Big Country

April 11 -- Furniture reminds of loved one gone (Rheta Grimsley Johnson Column): It is a blond lingerie chest about the size of a beehive, with three deep drawers and two curling layers of laminate on top. One person can move it about.

April 11 -- Higher profiles, diminished voices (Bob Greene Column): SANTA ANA, Calif. -- "The telephone in Franklin Roosevelt's bedroom at the White House rang at 2:50 a.m. on the first day of September. In more ways than one it was a ghastly hour; but the operators knew they must ring. Ambassador Bill Bullitt was calling from Paris. Mr. Bullitt told Mr. Roosevelt that World War II had begun. Adolf Hitler's bombing planes were dropping death all over Poland."

April 11 -- Crucial! No grub in this lunch box: (Dale McFeatters Column): Although it may become outdated in the next 15 minutes, here is a guide to teenage slang, at least as spoken at Westland Middle School of Bethesda, Md., the institution charged with the uphill task of educating my 14-year-old daughter, Kirsten, and her friends.

April 10 -- Rule of the few not best way to run democracy (ARN Editorial): From the lack of fanfare, you wouldn't know Texas is approaching an important election. In fact, you might not realize today is the last day of early voting for Tuesday's primary runoffs or even that early voting had been in progress this week. Runoff endorsements

April 10 -- High school an obsolete institution? (George Will Column): WASHINGTON -- Three great creations of American civilization in the 19th century were judicial review, the curveball and high school. The first two are still robust. However, the time is ripe for rethinking the third.

April 10 -- Tallying up the score in gender wars (Ellen Goodman Column): BOSTON -- It's been a little over a week since Susan Webber Wright saved us from finding out whether the president of the United States has distinguishing characteristics on his genitals.

April 9 -- Storm sirens fit matter for public debate (ARN Editorial): The first duty of government -- whether local, state or federal -- is to ensure the safety and well-being of its citizens.

April 9 -- Wright's wrong ruling on harassment (Cal Thomas Column): In her dismissal of the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit against Bill Clinton, Judge Susan Webber Wright seems to suggest men might be able to get away with one free hit on the woman of their choice in the workplace.

April 9 -- 'Follow the money' still good advice (Molly Ivins Column): AUSTIN -- As scholars of presidential scandal will recall, Deep Throat told Woodward and Bernstein to "follow the money." It's still good advice.

April 8 -- Stock market can help save Social Security (ARN Editorial): It was almost as if some mystical force was trying to give him a hint.

April 8 -- Mexican law to challenge loyalties (Linda Chavez Column): Mexico has been losing ground to the United States for 150 years, but no longer. Mexico has come up with a plan -- if not to regain the 1 million square miles of land it lost in the Mexican American War, at least to recapture some of its former citizens and their American-born children. Under a new Mexican law that went into effect last month, naturalized U.S. citizens who were born in Mexico can now apply to retain Mexican nationality.

April 8 -- Man's new best friends are machines (Bob Greene Column): AIKEN, S.C. -- There once was a fear in the land: that machines would eventually replace people, that all the functions performed by hard-working men and women would be taken over by faceless, soulless mechanical devices.

April 7 -- Loophole in weapons' ban needed closing (ARN Editorial): President Clinton closed a loophole in existing law when he banned the import of 58 types of assault weapons.

April 7 -- Titanic: try, try again (ARN Editorial): A group of entrepreneurs with a high threshold for the macabre plan to build a full-size replica of the liner Titanic. Unlike the original, it will have both radar and enough lifeboats, but just like the original, "it cannot sink," says the project's president.

April 7 -- They still don't make 'em like Bella (Ellen Goodman): WASHINGTON - Many years ago, after she had lost a race for Congress the hard way - by one percentage point - a defeated Bella Abzug, sitting hatless and hapless, spied a claque of reporters coming around for the kill. Looking up at them, she wagged her famous finger and barked: "I thank you not to write my obituary."

April 7 -- Culture agencies turning majoritarian (George Will): WASHINGTON - Peace prevails on two formerly hot fronts in the culture wars, at the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. But have they made a desert and called it peace?

April 6 -- Tobacco road hard to travel, Congress finds (ARN Editorial): Congressional negotiators are tiptoeing ever closer to agreement on a package of laws meant to bring the tobacco industry to its knees and save thousands of lives. It includes an increase in the federal tax on cigarettes by $1.10 a pack over five years, and it would siphon some $138 billion more from tobacco companies than the $368 billion originally proffered, bringing the total to $506 billion.

April 6 -- A cheap, early warning (ARN Editorial): Federal safety officials say, with that great certainty one expects of government studies, that center-mounted brake lights reduce the number of rear-end collisions by 4.3 percent a year, preventing 92,000 crashes, 58,000 injuries and $655 million in property damage.

April 6 -- Threats to our adolescents' health (Betsy Hart): In the wake of the Jonesboro tragedy, keeping our kids safe has never seemed more important - or, perhaps, more impossible.

April 6 -- Putting American cities before African (Cal Thomas): When Congress was run by Democrats and the White House by a Republican, congressional Democrats frequently called for the restoration of America's cities before money was spent on other programs.

April 5 -- Runoff races vital to future of government (ARN Editorial): For most Taylor Countians who voted in the March 10 primaries, the job's not finished. And if you missed that vote completely, it's not too late to get in the game.

April 5 -- Starr's investigation never-ending (Donald Kaul Column): I suppose you think that just because an Arkansas judge has thrown out the Paula Jones case, Ken Starr will get discouraged and go away.

April 5 -- Bickering stalls progress on tobacco (Steve Ray Column): It was confession time as my 16-year-old son and I walked past the cigar humidor at Wal-Mart after a frank discussion about a number of things fathers have to discuss with their teen-age sons.

April 5 -- Many 'firsts' after beloved husband dies (Sharon Randall Column): Two months after my husband lost a four-year fight with cancer, I decided it was time to go back to church.

April 5 -- A special week to focus on neighborhood revitalization (Wanda Merrit): The city of Abilene is proud to join other communities across America in celebrating National Community Development Week April 6-10.

April 5 -- Tough choices are necessary to keep Social Security healthy for all generations of Americans (Warren Rudman): In his recent State of the Union speech, President Clinton announced his most important priority over the next several years will be preparing Social Security for the retirement of the massive baby boom generation.

April 5 -- Caseworkers who protect children need our support (Anthony Wilson): Imagine this: A late-night phone call alerts a social worker about two youngsters trapped in an abusive household. The worker is instructed to go to the home and remove the children. She does so, taking them to a local foster home. Arriving at the strangers' house, the children, who may be dirty, hungry and scared, have nothing but the pajamas they are wearing.

April 4 -- Congress poised to succeed by not doing much (ARN Editorial): Calling this a "do-nothing" Congress may be a little harsh, but the outlook for this session is for the lawmakers not to do very much and spend little time doing it.

April 4 -- Reporter-News Salutes: Recognizing groups and individuals who make a difference in the Big Country

April 4 -- Raising the bar for critics of Clinton (Walter Mears Column): WASHINGTON -- Boorishness is not an impeachable offense.

April 4 -- Look at bright side of impending doom (Bob Greene Column): NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. -- That huge asteroid -- the mile-wide asteroid that was supposedly going to strike the Earth and wreak a kind of havoc unprecedented in the history of mankind?

April 4 -- Teen-age whiz drops out for $90,000 a year (Rheta Grimsley Johnson Column): Did you read the story about the Atlanta teen-ager who's dropping out of high school to make $90,000 a year messing around with computers?

April 3 -- Season of hope and renewal quietly appears (ARN Editorial): Spring arrived while we weren't looking.

April 3 -- Rich guys at the plate (ARN Editorial): Money-wise, baseball is becoming a two-tier sport, according to start-of-season figures.

April 3 -- Court cuts teeth on disability rights (Ellen Goodman Column): BOSTON -- I wonder if anyone in America has ever fought quite so hard for the pleasure of having her teeth drilled. On Monday, Sidney Abbott went all the way to the Supreme Court to get a cavity filled.

April 3 -- A father reaches the angle of repose (George Will Column): NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Frederick L. Will, my father, recently died here. He was, as used to be said, well-stricken in years, nearly 89 of them, and suffered many of the afflictions that often accumulate in very elderly bodies. He was, it is safe to say, not sorry when the Dark Angel tapped him on his shoulder and said it was time to go.

April 2 -- Judge makes right call in Jones' lawsuit (ARN Editorial): A federal judge's decision to throw out the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit against President Clinton isn't entirely a victory for him, although it does appear to be one for an intelligent application of sexual harassment law.

April 2 -- Justice makes the NFL (ARN Editorial): If you get convicted of a violent crime, the National Football League is now saying to its players, you're going to get fined and suspended.

April 2 -- Campaign finance reform Oscars (Molly Ivins Column): AUSTIN -- If there were an Oscar for Hypocrisy in Campaign Financing, we would all have to stand back in awe at the quality of the performances. What breathtaking stinkers. Difficult though it is to pick out one player even more outstanding than the others, you must admit Newt Gingrich deserves a special accolade.

April 2 -- We've ignored simple answers too long (Cal Thomas Column): We have heard predictable explanations for the tragic killings of four children and a teacher by children in Jonesboro, Ark. Some say it's violence on television and in films. While today's graphic "entertainment" violence is far worse than the cowboys, vaporizing aliens and monsters I grew up watching, that alone seems an incomplete excuse.

April 1 -- Impeachment preparations unwarranted (ARN Editorial): Once again, overly aggressive House Republicans have played into President Clinton's hands.

April 1 -- Wildcatters in Congress (ARN Editorial): Everybody involved knows the idea is a bad one: Buy high, sell low.

April 1 -- When lives become commodities (Linda Chavez Column): It was a picture-perfect death -- an elderly woman, surrounded by her family, drifting peacefully into her final slumber. At least, that's how "Compassion in Dying," a Portland-based pro-euthanasia group, portrayed the first acknowledged death last week under Oregon's recently implemented physician-assisted suicide law.

April 1 -- 'My interpreter will get back to you' (Bob Greene Column): NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.-- I saw a man in a restaurant, angry because he had a dinner reservation and was still being made to wait, sputtering at the maitre d', demanding to be taken to his table right away. He was making himself look stupid in front of all the other customers.