Message from the President

FREEDOM. What a wonderful word! As we celebrate our Independence Day on the 4th, do we really understand what the Declaration of Independence that was signed on July 4, 1776, really meant? Independence. Freedom from the influence, control, or determination of another or others. Boy, that said a lot.
Can you remember your younger days when you could do just about anything within the law and the freedoms you had? Have you forgotten? As youngsters, you could go out and play with sticks, firecrackers, BB guns, darts, bows and arrows, slingshots, and just about anything without there being a law or someone saying you couldn’t do that anymore.
You had the freedom to fail or excel in what you tried to do as a child in school. Your teacher was a teacher, not a baby sitter. Whatever she or he said was respected at school and at home. If you misbehaved, you were punished by a few licks from the board of education, which in our case, was a board with holes drilled in the flat part of a baseball bat honed down that gave you an attitude adjustment. It was final, no arguments. And if your parents found out about it, it was repeated at home. Juvenile delinquency was not a big problem because problems didn’t exist to the degree they do today.
Have you as county officials lost any freedoms that you can remember? If you have been an elected official for awhile, you can name many of them. New election laws, safety programs, prisoners’ rights, welfare, hiring and firing, state reports, child protection laws, mandates, and on and on. Each time the Texas Legislature, U.S. Congress, or the U.S. Supreme Court make a law or make a decision, it affects all of us in one way of another. I’m not saying they aren’t necessary, but decades ago, life was a lot simpler.
Of course, we still appreciate the freedoms we do have, and we learn to live with the ones lost. We can still say that our land is better than anywhere else in the world, and I thank God every day for what we have. Many people have died to keep us free, and we should all be grateful and respect those who are still helping us maintain our freedom throughout the world. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Gilbert Pargmann, President CJCAT