HORACE MCQUEEN: Just Another Day In Paradise!

BY HORACE MCQUEEN

As we prepare to close out 2019, hopes are that 2020 will prove a great blessing to everyone. This year has been both good and bad. Politicians of both political stripes have made complete fools of themselves with their idiotic statements. The Trump vs. Biden controversy continues unabated. What we need to remember is that Senator Biden did use his power of office to obtain a lucrative paycheck of $50,000 a month from a Ukrainian oil company for his drug using son, Hunter.

The senator also opened the door for his son to enter the U.S. Navy Reserve program as an officer—though Hunter Biden had no prior experience in the military. Just a few weeks after becoming a Navy Reserve officer, Hunter Biden failed a mandatory drug test. He was kicked out of the Reserves—but then went on to make a fortune riding his old man’s coattails. What a story the news media liberals overlook!

Cattle prices are just not proving an economic powerhouse. Many of our cow folks are just going with the flow and hoping for improved markets in 2020. For many landowners, the only choice for land use is growing trees and running cattle. Neither enterprise is lucrative—but who can predict the future? So our landowners will hang on, dream big and survive the storms!

Where can you buy good—or great—barbecue in our neck of the woods. Here are a few places we frequent and have never had a bad experience. In Crockett, Smitty’s barbecue on South 4th St. is a top notch outfit. Brett Arnold runs the place and offers not only succulent beef but also American catfish plus all the sides that make a real meal. In Palestine, Shep’s is renowned for turning out brisket prepared the right way. Good friends in Latexo, Betty and George Sarver, located one in Huntsville they enjoy. Early next year, we plan to head that way. There are a multitude of restaurants with barbecue on the menu. Some are great, some good and a few absolutely terrible!

On the food subject, a catfish restaurant that gets lots of raves—and repeat business—is Clear Springs. We often stop at the one in Tyler on South Broadway. Or in Nacogdoches at the Clear Springs alongside the railroad tracks just west of downtown. Clear Springs also has locations in New Braunfels and Midland. The catfish is always superb—and the onion rings can’t be beat. Unless you have a table full of hungry diners, don’t order the large plate of onion rings. The stack is huge and two diners can’t handle that towering order! Tom Collins, with Clear Springs, tells me that their catfish is 100% farm raised from Mississippi—that’s a guarantee customers can depend on!

To round out the year, the gutless U.S. Congress has passed a bill to “limit” robo telephone calls. The vote in the House of Representatives was 417 for and only 3 against. Sounds good—on the surface. What the politicians neglect to tell us is that the bill they passed has more holes in it than Aunt Minnie’s drawers. The bill does not stop calls from politicians or from the numerous outfits who say they represent a charitable organization. Keep in mind some of these so-called charities are scams in their own right! Anyway, that’s my view and I am sticking with it! That’s –30—[email protected]

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