George Hermann, a millionaire oilman and Houston native, died in 1914.  In his will, Hermann bequeathed approximately 450 acres to the City of Houston for creation of a park and Hermann Hospital.  The park which bears his name has become one of the great urban parks in America.  Among other things it features – the Houston Zoo, Hermann Park Golf Course (allegedly the first desegregated public course in the U.S.), the Museum of Natural History, the Miller Outdoor Theatre, the newly redesigned Houston Garden Center,  a Japanese Garden, miniature train, McGovern Lake and numerous playgrounds, running trails, picnic areas and other attractions.  It is a must see for any visitor to Houston.  Sadly, the statue of Hermann sits mostly unnoticed in an obscure corner of the park.

In 1541, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado wrote to Charles I, King of Spain, describing for the first time the Llano Estacado or Staked Plains.  The Llano is a high tableland extending across much of the Texas panhandle and eastern  New Mexico.  In Texas its eastern boundary is marked by the impressive Caprock which runs hundreds of miles across west Texas.  Coronado was overwhelmed by the vastness of the Llano Estacado.  As he wrote, “I reached plains so vast that I did not find their limit anywhere I went, although I travelled over them for 300 leagues.”  He further describes them as having “no more land marks than if we had been swallowed up by the sea.  There was not a stone, nor a bit of rising ground, nor a tree, nor a shrub, nor anything to go by.”  He was also the first to write about the incredible herds of cattle (bison) that he encountered and the first to describe the various plains Indians that he encountered.  Of course, he never found the Cities of Gold that he was looking for.

Midland is named one of the 10 richest cities in America.

http://houston.citybizlist.com/article/214458/midland-among-10-richest-cities-of-america

President Mirabeau B. Lamar and his Cabinet arrived in the newly designated Texas capital of Austin in 1839.  Lamar had commissioned Edwin Waller (who would become Austin’s first mayor) to lay out the new capital city on the site of Waterloo – a controversial decision because Austin was on the very edge of the Commancheria and the target of raids from the Commanches and their allies.  The move was part of a grand scheme to extend the reach of the Republic – with dreams that it might someday touch the Pacific.  Despite at least one later attempt by Sam Houston to relocate the capital to Washington-on-the-Brazos, the decision stuck and Waterloo was transformed from a small village into the capital of a new nation.

Stand by Your Man by Tammy Wynette

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwBirf4BWew

Awesome hair and lip-synching.

1995 is remembered for the MLB strike that wiped out the post-season.  A consequence of the lack of October baseball (and the NFL having not yet come up with the idea of even more Sunday football) was the decision to move the UT-Rice game to Sunday night for a national TV audience.  My wife and I made a last minute decision to attend – something possible when Rice was still playing in a 70,000 seat stadium.  There had been some fairly violent thunderstorms during the day and a lot of rain, but as the game approached the rain was holding off.  We brought some rain gear and bought a couple of cheap seats in the end zone (when you could still sit in the end zone at Rice Stadium).  UT would later complain that it was raining every time they had the ball, but that is part of the myth.  There was very little if any rain during the game.  UT had just come off of a rousing victory against OU in the Cotton Bowl where backup quarterback James Brown and pulled off an almost perfect game.  He was 17-22 passing with a passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown and one interception that wasn’t his fault.  At least 3 of the other incompletions were dropped balls that should have been caught.  For some reason, Jon Makovic – in his infinite wisdom about such matters – went back to his mediocre starting quarterback Shea Morenz who had a less than mediocre day going 18-39 for 163 yards and touchdown.   UT promptly fell behind 9-0 after the Owls kicked a field goal and recovered the ensuing kickoff and immediately scored again.  Given the lead, the Owls’ defense played an inspired game helped by having the wrong Longhorn quarterback at the helm.  The Owls’ by then old-fashioned wishbone running game was effective at taking time off the clock and held the ball for almost 40 minutes.  At one point in the second half when things were looking grim, I trained my binoculars on Brown.  He was sitting on a table on the sideline, smiling and seemingly joking with some other players.  I thought, “He knows he isn’t getting into this game.”  Which seemed incredible to me -given the possibility of UT losing to Rice for the first time in 29 years.  And I was right.  UT scored late to pull with 2 at 19-17, but the onside kick failed.  It was an amazing victory for Coach Ken Hatfield in his first season at Rice.  As the clock ticked down, my eyes were on the Owls student section.  One particularly tall and athletic looking student leaped the rail, sprinted across the field and in one jump was grabbing the crossbar of the south end zone goalpost.  Within seconds the end zone was swarmed and the goalpost fell within less than two minutes.  It was the only time I have ever actually seen the goalposts torn down – and it was at Rice Stadium!

Photo – Houston Chronicle

Attention Texas Voters –  Get Ready to Whip it Out.  The Fifth Circuit stayed enforcement of a lower court ordered that would have prevented Texas election officials from requiring voters to show a photo ID prior to voting.  The basis for the ruling was that the lower court’s order came too close in time to the election and the US Supreme Court has repeatedly found that judicially ordered changes to the electoral system should not be made in the days before an election.  The Fifth Circuit panel specifically noted that election training materials had already gone out to election officials across the state and that the court order eliminating the photo ID requirement would have to be communicated by “word of mouth.”  Really?  I understand that the Court seemed to be following the Supreme Court’s directive to not mess with election protocols too close to election day, but a one-sentence directive to election officials could solve this.  How about — “Nobody has to show a photo ID to be eligible to vote in person.”

Anyone who know anything about elections, knows that the hanky-panky begins and ends with mail ballots – and the Texas Voter ID law does nothing to address that problem.  There are almost no documented instances of in-person voter fraud reported.  The fix was for a problem that did not exist and clearly designed to keep the po’ folks from voting by erecting another barricade to entry to the polling place.  So far so good in that respect.