David McLemore: Letting the air out of wild tubers
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – This summer, you can still plan on enjoying a cold beer as you float down the Guadalupe on an inner tube. But plan on being on your best behavior. And please, put that cigarette out.

04/08/2001

Sam Attlesey: Gutter ball already rolling in governor's race
AUSTIN – Smear campaigns. Private eyes. An anonymous threatening letter. Gay bashing and questions about group sex. Oh, boy. The 2002 governor's race is off and running and in the gutter from the get-go.

A.C. Greene: 'Dump' is all that's left of lofty railroad route
Recently my wife said to me, "Jim and Teddy Dennis have a railroad dump running through their yard." Now a railroad dump is the earthen roadbed on which rails and ties are laid. As the Dennises live less than a block from our house here in Salado, I was astounded. ... A railroad through Salado? History denies it ever happened.

Kent Biffle: Folks were barking up wrong tree
WICHITA FALLS – Nature lovers cheered when The Education of Little Tree, a true story about a Cherokee orphan boy, topped bestseller lists late in the last century. Clearly, the story of Little Tree – Mama Nature's own American Indian child – was told by a sensitive, politically correct, and deeply wise environmentalist. OK, not really.

04/01/2001

Sam Attlesey: Redistricting panels urged to make areas whole
AUSTIN – The redrawing of legislative and congressional districts can result in the political demise of incumbents and challengers. But redistricting literally may be hazardous to a politician's life.

Kent Biffle: Critics said early Texans gobbled grub
GRANBURY – Tourists in the Republic of Texas (1836-1846) sometimes beefed that Lone Star citizens wolfed their food. One Brit observed the dinner hour at the Republic's best hotel – Galveston's Tremont House (so good it still thrives).

A.C. Greene: Pleasant Mound rodeo gone but not forgotten
Last month, we asked readers' help with a question about Pleasant Mound's rodeo. The result was the largest outpouring we've ever had on a single topic; so much, in fact, we aren't able to thank everyone.

03/27/2001

Todd J. Gillman: Cisneros betting on Hispanic voting bloc
Henry Cisneros is ready to hand off the baton. Texas' Hispanic population has never been bigger, and Mr. Cisneros may well be the state's most popular Hispanic politician. "The moment is right" for a Hispanic to run for governor next year, he said.

03/26/2001

Arnold Hamilton: The rush is on for political turf
OKLAHOMA CITY – The candidate filing period doesn't begin for 15 months. The general election is 590 days away. And the state's next governor won't even take office until January 2003 – more than enough time to start and complete a 155-foot-tall, 80-foot diameter dome atop the state Capitol.