Letters to the Editor
April 24, 2007 - 10:59PM
The Great Umpire never calls ‘em wrong
Editor:
Calling balls and strikes in not an easy task. As a matter of fact, in today’s opinionated society a close call against the home team can bring instant shouts of foul play. But have patience, as most umpires will make up the bad call as the game advances.
Fans who know little about game protest the loudest — failing to understand that in baseball, the arbitrator is human and just like most of us, makes mistakes.
In baseball, you have a home team and the visitors. If your team is playing at home there is such a thing as the “home cooking factor” — meaning that sometimes the umpire will favor a close call for the home team.
Is this unusual? Not at all; it’s expected and coaches should advise their players that when they play away from home, they are two runs behind before the game begins.
Baseball is a game of inches. An umpire calls the game as he sees it — although sometimes we wonder what game he’s watching, but all in all he attempts to make the right call.
Luck has something to do with the game and the strike-caller cannot change that. The more you practice the luckier you get, and perhaps somebody beyond us has a hand in that.
The first umpires came from religion and to reaffirm that — the following was published in The Brownsville Herald in the 1940s:
It was a great day for religion when the great prophet Amos discovered that there is an Umpire who passes judgment in the affairs of men.
Life is a great game and we all are players; it is interesting and thrilling game if we can be sure that we have a fair chance.
We will play our best if we know that the Umpire is impartial; but it takes the heart out of the best player if he suspects that he is called “out” when he was safe at the base.
We have a fine tradition in the Great American Game of baseball; men of integrity as well of intelligence call the strikes and decide between the opposing sides when the play is close.
So we rejoice that at the heart of the Universe justice is enthroned; though onlookers may jeer or call the game against us we rest assured that the Cosmic Umpire will understand and will call our plays with fairness.
The Judge of all the earth will do right. On the other side, we too must keep the rules of the game, we must play fairly, we must play with our mates in good teamwork, we must keep ourselves in good trim for the grueling contest ahead of us.
The Umpire will not do our playing for us, but he will guarantee us a fair decision in today’s game and at the end of the playing season.
He calls today, “Play Ball!” Then play with all your skill and power and rest your game with THE GREAT UMPIRE WHO NEVER CALLS ‘EM WRONG.
Allow me to close with another story culled from the gossip of the game. As father and son sat at a ball game one Sunday afternoon, the son asked his father, “Did they play ball in Noah’s time?”
“No son,” answered the father, “I don’t believe that they did.”
“Well why didn’t they?” continued the boy. “Wet grounds, I guess,” neatly finished the father.
See you at the park!
Rene Torres
Brownsville
Via the Internet
Legislation proposed to help children with autism
While April is Autism Awareness Month, parents of children diagnosed with this brain disorder face year-round challenges and heartaches. As a legislator, I have less than two months left of this legislative session to continue my efforts to help these families.
I commend the many parents statewide who have supported me in efforts to inform my fellow colleagues that this organic brain disorder is growing in epidemic proportions. Children with autism spectrum disorders or ASD (commonly referred to as autism) have great potential, but it cannot be realized unless we provide them with appropriate treatment while still young.
Ten years ago, autism affected one in every 2,500 children, and today that figure has drastically climbed to one in every 150. While the cause remains unknown, the need for early services has been proven.
The problem lies in resistance by insurance companies to provide coverage for the therapy needed to treat children with ASD. Studies show that with early intensive treatment, 47 percent of autistic children can become indistinguishable from their peers.
The cost of autism is staggering. A Harvard School of Public Health study shows that it costs $35 billion per year to care for autism and $3.2 million to care for an autistic person for a lifetime. Research has also revealed that early, intensive behavioral, social and communication intervention has the most profound effect over the lifespan of a person with ASD, usually reducing costs by two-thirds.
During this legislative session, I have authored two bills related to autism. Senate Bill 419 requires health insurance coverage of therapies for 3- to 5-year-olds with autism. The goal is to provide these children with a fair opportunity to lead a normal life while lessening the need for special services when they are in school.
This bill also classifies autism as a neurobiological disorder to clarify that it is not mental illness, as is commonly mistaken. Mental retardation involves a shrinkage and loss of brain cells. With autism, the brain is bigger and there is too much signal, not too little.
Research is getting closer to identifying the genes involved and isolating them to develop a diagnostic blood or other test. Mario Martinez, an Austin father of two young autistic children, is having a tough time finding a medical professional who will confirm his son’s autism as congenital. The father’s health policy insures speech therapy for a child over age 3 only if the problem is congenital.
“How could anyone say that a child over the age of 3 who can only say less than five words on a daily basis couldn’t need speech therapy?” he asks.
Mr. Martinez was also informed that if he pays the $640 a month out-of-pocket for speech therapy, the money cannot be applied toward his deductible maximums.
The high count of uninsured children in Texas can exacerbate the problem. But for those fortunate to have insurance, they desperately need insurance companies to recognize the benefits and long-term savings of early intervention.
My other proposal, SB 840, would direct the commissioner of education to develop training institutes for teachers and paraprofessionals who work with students who have disabilities including autism, to implement research-based education practices in their classrooms. The training would be voluntary and pay stipends to those who complete the course.
Federal requirements mandate that students with disabilities be educated in the “least restrictive environment.” Most of these students spend all or part of their school day in general education classrooms. This bill would benefit teachers who lack either special education or experience working with children with certain disabilities, as well as the paraprofessionals who assist them.
This training would be more beneficial in the long run to autistic children and their families than vouchers that handpick certain children with only this disability to attend a private school that offers special services. Using this approach is like attempting to douse a three-alarm fire with a garden hose. We need a statewide program for all children with disabilities, including ASD.
As Dr. David Baskin, a neurologist at the Methodist Hospital Neurological Institute in Houston and autism expert tells us, “We have this national emergency. It’s called autism!” I also add that we have a national responsibility. It’s called commitment. I, for one, am committed to finding help for autism. Our children are waiting for our help.
As always, if you have any input or questions regarding these or other matters, please do not hesitate to contact Doris Sanchez, my press secretary, 512-463-0385.
Eddie Lucio Jr. represents Texas Senate District 27, which includes Cameron County.
Whose safety really at issue?
Editor:
Thanks but no thanks to local pharmacists and bank clerks who have told that I cannot be served in their “motor” lines if I arrive on my bicycle.
They claim my safety is the issue.
But I contend that I am safer on my bike, as I am always alert, unlike the thousands in their vehicles who are multi-tasking: cell phones; meals; cigarettes; restless children; checking papers and radios.
While on the topic of safety, how about the safety of the planet, the future of the planet?
Clerks, I know you are only following orders by sending me from your “motor” lines, but think a bit beyond those orders; think about the planet, think about future generations, think about global warming.
Sending a cyclist from the “motor” line is hardly a way to honor Earth Day or Carbon-Reduction Day.
Clerks, I only wish you, your employers, friends and family cleaner air and a less-hurried way of life, and as you send me off, implying that I join the world of polluters, I harbor no ill will, and simply repeat my wish.
Eugene Novogrodsky
Brownsville
Via the Internet
Editor:
Calling balls and strikes in not an easy task. As a matter of fact, in today’s opinionated society a close call against the home team can bring instant shouts of foul play. But have patience, as most umpires will make up the bad call as the game advances.
Fans who know little about game protest the loudest — failing to understand that in baseball, the arbitrator is human and just like most of us, makes mistakes.
In baseball, you have a home team and the visitors. If your team is playing at home there is such a thing as the “home cooking factor” — meaning that sometimes the umpire will favor a close call for the home team.
Is this unusual? Not at all; it’s expected and coaches should advise their players that when they play away from home, they are two runs behind before the game begins.
Baseball is a game of inches. An umpire calls the game as he sees it — although sometimes we wonder what game he’s watching, but all in all he attempts to make the right call.
Luck has something to do with the game and the strike-caller cannot change that. The more you practice the luckier you get, and perhaps somebody beyond us has a hand in that.
The first umpires came from religion and to reaffirm that — the following was published in The Brownsville Herald in the 1940s:
It was a great day for religion when the great prophet Amos discovered that there is an Umpire who passes judgment in the affairs of men.
Life is a great game and we all are players; it is interesting and thrilling game if we can be sure that we have a fair chance.
We will play our best if we know that the Umpire is impartial; but it takes the heart out of the best player if he suspects that he is called “out” when he was safe at the base.
We have a fine tradition in the Great American Game of baseball; men of integrity as well of intelligence call the strikes and decide between the opposing sides when the play is close.
So we rejoice that at the heart of the Universe justice is enthroned; though onlookers may jeer or call the game against us we rest assured that the Cosmic Umpire will understand and will call our plays with fairness.
The Judge of all the earth will do right. On the other side, we too must keep the rules of the game, we must play fairly, we must play with our mates in good teamwork, we must keep ourselves in good trim for the grueling contest ahead of us.
The Umpire will not do our playing for us, but he will guarantee us a fair decision in today’s game and at the end of the playing season.
He calls today, “Play Ball!” Then play with all your skill and power and rest your game with THE GREAT UMPIRE WHO NEVER CALLS ‘EM WRONG.
Allow me to close with another story culled from the gossip of the game. As father and son sat at a ball game one Sunday afternoon, the son asked his father, “Did they play ball in Noah’s time?”
“No son,” answered the father, “I don’t believe that they did.”
“Well why didn’t they?” continued the boy. “Wet grounds, I guess,” neatly finished the father.
See you at the park!
Rene Torres
Brownsville
Via the Internet
Legislation proposed to help children with autism
While April is Autism Awareness Month, parents of children diagnosed with this brain disorder face year-round challenges and heartaches. As a legislator, I have less than two months left of this legislative session to continue my efforts to help these families.
I commend the many parents statewide who have supported me in efforts to inform my fellow colleagues that this organic brain disorder is growing in epidemic proportions. Children with autism spectrum disorders or ASD (commonly referred to as autism) have great potential, but it cannot be realized unless we provide them with appropriate treatment while still young.
Ten years ago, autism affected one in every 2,500 children, and today that figure has drastically climbed to one in every 150. While the cause remains unknown, the need for early services has been proven.
The problem lies in resistance by insurance companies to provide coverage for the therapy needed to treat children with ASD. Studies show that with early intensive treatment, 47 percent of autistic children can become indistinguishable from their peers.
The cost of autism is staggering. A Harvard School of Public Health study shows that it costs $35 billion per year to care for autism and $3.2 million to care for an autistic person for a lifetime. Research has also revealed that early, intensive behavioral, social and communication intervention has the most profound effect over the lifespan of a person with ASD, usually reducing costs by two-thirds.
During this legislative session, I have authored two bills related to autism. Senate Bill 419 requires health insurance coverage of therapies for 3- to 5-year-olds with autism. The goal is to provide these children with a fair opportunity to lead a normal life while lessening the need for special services when they are in school.
This bill also classifies autism as a neurobiological disorder to clarify that it is not mental illness, as is commonly mistaken. Mental retardation involves a shrinkage and loss of brain cells. With autism, the brain is bigger and there is too much signal, not too little.
Research is getting closer to identifying the genes involved and isolating them to develop a diagnostic blood or other test. Mario Martinez, an Austin father of two young autistic children, is having a tough time finding a medical professional who will confirm his son’s autism as congenital. The father’s health policy insures speech therapy for a child over age 3 only if the problem is congenital.
“How could anyone say that a child over the age of 3 who can only say less than five words on a daily basis couldn’t need speech therapy?” he asks.
Mr. Martinez was also informed that if he pays the $640 a month out-of-pocket for speech therapy, the money cannot be applied toward his deductible maximums.
The high count of uninsured children in Texas can exacerbate the problem. But for those fortunate to have insurance, they desperately need insurance companies to recognize the benefits and long-term savings of early intervention.
My other proposal, SB 840, would direct the commissioner of education to develop training institutes for teachers and paraprofessionals who work with students who have disabilities including autism, to implement research-based education practices in their classrooms. The training would be voluntary and pay stipends to those who complete the course.
Federal requirements mandate that students with disabilities be educated in the “least restrictive environment.” Most of these students spend all or part of their school day in general education classrooms. This bill would benefit teachers who lack either special education or experience working with children with certain disabilities, as well as the paraprofessionals who assist them.
This training would be more beneficial in the long run to autistic children and their families than vouchers that handpick certain children with only this disability to attend a private school that offers special services. Using this approach is like attempting to douse a three-alarm fire with a garden hose. We need a statewide program for all children with disabilities, including ASD.
As Dr. David Baskin, a neurologist at the Methodist Hospital Neurological Institute in Houston and autism expert tells us, “We have this national emergency. It’s called autism!” I also add that we have a national responsibility. It’s called commitment. I, for one, am committed to finding help for autism. Our children are waiting for our help.
As always, if you have any input or questions regarding these or other matters, please do not hesitate to contact Doris Sanchez, my press secretary, 512-463-0385.
Eddie Lucio Jr. represents Texas Senate District 27, which includes Cameron County.
Whose safety really at issue?
Editor:
Thanks but no thanks to local pharmacists and bank clerks who have told that I cannot be served in their “motor” lines if I arrive on my bicycle.
They claim my safety is the issue.
But I contend that I am safer on my bike, as I am always alert, unlike the thousands in their vehicles who are multi-tasking: cell phones; meals; cigarettes; restless children; checking papers and radios.
While on the topic of safety, how about the safety of the planet, the future of the planet?
Clerks, I know you are only following orders by sending me from your “motor” lines, but think a bit beyond those orders; think about the planet, think about future generations, think about global warming.
Sending a cyclist from the “motor” line is hardly a way to honor Earth Day or Carbon-Reduction Day.
Clerks, I only wish you, your employers, friends and family cleaner air and a less-hurried way of life, and as you send me off, implying that I join the world of polluters, I harbor no ill will, and simply repeat my wish.
Eugene Novogrodsky
Brownsville
Via the Internet
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