The Plane Game

A flight by an unhappy pilot into an Austin building will no doubt lead to calls for more rules for airplanes and pilots.
Speaking (writing) as a pilot, we have enough rules. The incident in Austin is tragic. And the events in the pilot's life which apparently led to it, are tragic too. He felt the federal government, especially the IRS, was targeting him. Maybe he is right. Maybe there are rules for the rich, and then for the rest of us. But trying to destroy one building and take some innocent lives with you is not the way to convey the message.
The IRS will still have its pages and pages of regulations. And people who might agree that government is too big, taxes too high and there is no way to get "their" attention, will be tarred with what this one individual did.
And pilots and airplanes may be victims too. There is always an out cry immediately after an event which gets so much attention. But, if the pilot had driven a car with a bomb into the building and caused similar damage, would there be a demand for stricter controls on drivers and cars?

This Is Where I Came In

Even tho we've been talking about my 30 years at KTAB, I've been doing television in Abilene and the Big Country a lot longer than that. I began at KRBC in the fall of 1971. As a mere child, I produced and anchored the news and weather at noon, and sports at 6pm. (And of course there was Jackpot Movie in between. I picked phone numbers at random from Big Country phone books, and if they answered and knew the amount in the jackpot, they won the cash. Had a surprisingly large number of people watching those "B" movies, because the jackpot never got too big.) As sports director, I went to the schools in every town in our coverage area, talking with athletes and coaches, parents and fans. Many of them still come up to me and say, "I remember when you interviewed me." I love it when a woman or man, toting children or even grandchildren, thinks of those "good old days." Do you realize how along ago that is? A player I covered in high school baseball is now my son's middle school math teacher.
I bring this up, because today the UIL, in its wisdom, has once again changed the make up of school districts across the state. That has to be done of course, as the student population in schools change. Sometimes you wonder how they decide to send a school 5 hours one way to play football or basketball. But then, I'm happy someone else is having to make the plan. That's a tough one. The competition changes for fine arts and other fields, as well as athletics.
Folks were mad when the Little Southwest Conference was broken up two years ago, sending Cooper to 4A and Abilene High to Weatherford and Fort Worth. Now, we're back heading west on I-20 to compete with the Midland and Odessa schools. Even Big Spring will be coming to Abilene, altho to play Wylie instead of AHS or CHS. (The Steers and San Angelo Central had been with Abilene, Midland and Odessa schools way back when.)
When Victor Sotelo interviewed some students at AHS, they knew nothing of Mojo or the Little SWC, much less the Big SWC. Several, but not all Big 12 colleges were in the SWC. This UIL move probably means more to older folks like me, than those in high school right now. Familiar rivals.
So, if Cooper is 5A again, and joins AHS with Midland and Odessa in the Little SWC, then the collegiate SWC may be on its way back. March Grandioso may become our theme song again. We may shoot stories on 16mm film. And I may be hosting Jackpot Movie once more.