THE HAPS IN WEST

told you we were having the barbecue cookoff and it is also going to feature a garden tractor pull-off. i swear i do not make this shit up..
they have discovered west nile virus in elm mott which is right down the road from us...that's not good.
mildred and bill dokupil went to italy and met the pope in rome...they are still excited about it..think she cried for 3 days..they got to kiss his ring and actually had a short conversation with them..so it was kinda of neat for them...i on the other hand would have had some serious questions for his holiness but they are good catholics and it really meant alot to them..
crops are doing badly in west area. milo harvest got hurt by either no rain or rain in wrong time and lots of wind blew the stalks to the ground..
purple hear day is scheduled for aug. 5th...each year there are fewer and fewer of them..so sad...our hero's are dieing out..
deiterman-berger's are having a family reunion. 2 marriages. 3 anniversaries, 3 births' and one death.
the pizza house team won district crown for midget boys baseball..
jeanette karlik's little column had a great little bit on old jewerly..dont think she has thrown anything away in her entire life and she is my age..she has all the old 40's, 50's, 60's, etc jewerly..the stretch bracelets, the add a bead ones, and the add a pearl, the charm bracelets, the dangle bracelets. i think i will call her and tell her she needs to sort thru all that stuff and sell it on ebay...she has tons of stuff from as far back as the 30's.
community grocery had blue bell on sale again and finally broke down and bought some non fat banana split yogurt...its pretty damn good.
now for the good thing...50 years ago today in west..
key word being 50 years..not as in a long time ago..but just a short 50 years ago..west schools were intergrated. and the big problem.???? they were afraid that they were going to be forced(the blacks0 into going to a white school. there were 214 enrolled at the dunbar school which was all black.its a long article but i think interesting enough to put it in...so here goes...im free hand typing this so i will screw up and misspell for sure..
NEGROES, SCHOL BOARD AGREE ON VALUNTARY SEGREGATION
West Independent School District's policy on intergration of negro and white students in public schools shaped up into something more tangible this week following a meeting of school trustees and Dunbar School patrons last week and a special speech delivered by superintendent M.F.Kruse at a Kiwanis club meeting WEd.
Mr. Kruse stressed in his talk that Dunbar patrons attending the intergrations meeting solidly endored continuance of the Dunbar school program. "Some of the Dunbar patrons at the meeting actually were more concerned than we that their children might be ''forced'' to attend white shcools," the West school leader asserted.
Voluntary Segregation Ok.
His discussion of the recent Supreme Court ruling abolishing segregation pointed out that voluntary segregation seeminly would be allowed under the decision.
In handing down the decision, Supreme Court justices lieft an opening to allow negroes to attend their own schools if they choose. Mr. kruse said. Only type of segregations was "forced" segregation.
Mr. Kruse told the Kiwanians that Dunbar schools were a fully accredited 12-grade system, a standing many white schools can''t boast, and the colored population of West are proud of their schools.
"We don't know what initiative local federal judges will take in enforcing the Supreme Court ruling, but if they say we''ll have to admit colored students in our white schools, then we'll have to let them in," said Mr. Kruse. "However, we feel that there will be only scattered instances, maybe none, whre negro parents will want to send their children to white schools."
Dunbar Already Open
The superintendent backed up his contention by citing that a full enrollment of over 214 students registered for the first 6 weeks of a split term at Dunbar shcools Monday.
Mr. Kruse also told of school board plans to continually improve the Dunbar school plant and curriculum. "Those people appreciate the fact that West provided them a high school program when they weren't forced into the step by a court ruling.They know we''re interested in helping them, and we'll continue to do so," he said.
In closing, Mr. Kruse observed that school boards all over the south are somewhat pioneers with the respoinsibility of the intergration movement thrust aquare on their shoulders. "We haven't seen intergration in our cafes, movies, swimming pools trains, and haven't heard of any of the local churches expressing definite opinions on intergration. WE're going ahead with this problem with one main point in mind, what is best for the children...both colored and white," he concluded...
now here it is 50 years later and there are no black people employed in any of the major business''s with the exception of the west rest home where they are employed in the kitchen, aids and laundry. They still live in "their own part of town"...although it is not spoken about..but a lot of people won't place ads in paper for jobs or rent houses as they don't want to have black people apply for them...as they know legally they cant not...rent to them. now the schools are as equal as anything i have seen. the west kids could give a shit what color you are as long as your cool...there are more little black/czech babies running around town than their grannies would ever believe...but the guy that owns the swimming pool is a bigot...one of the grandkids girl friend was talking to a black kid at the swimming pool and ( i swear this is true) and he called the girls mother and said there was a problem and for her to come get her daughter. when she showed up she found out that the problem was her daughter was talking to a black kid(they go to school together) and she went postal. told him her daughter could talk to who ever she wanted and if he didnt like it he could kiss her ass...he actually called her daughter a nigger lover and i thought the kids mom was going to rip his head off...i have known both the mother and the kid for years and knew she would react like that..it is just scary how their are still people with such racist viws...at the pool he has rules about swimming aparell and boys have to wear swim suits with lining and no cut offs..but you can go in there any time and see white boys with cut offs all the time..but the black kids are all in swimming trunks. he uses it as an excuse to keep them out. some day i will have to kick his ass...
so that is the haps in west..in 50 years...not much has changed...but there is hope...