TradersGuideofTexas.com

By Jim Suydam

Press Secretary, General Land Office

AUSTIN — In Texas we’re surrounded by our history. From businesses that feature images of the Alamo to streets named after Texas heroes, history is a part of our daily lives. It’s easy to take it for granted.

For instance, I live in a city called Austin. I work in the Stephen F. Austin building. As land commissioner, I preside over the Texas General Land Office Archives, which contain historic documents from Stephen F. Austin himself.

His Registro is here, the ledger where he recorded the land grant information for his historic colony. His signature, in English and Spanish, graces countless documents hidden away in the 35 million pieces of paper that make up our collection.

Yet I rarely pause to remember the influence of this man. That is unfortunate, for so much of what we have today, so many things we enjoy, are due to those that came before us.

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Consider the battle that won Texas its independence, San Jacinto. In 18 minutes a small ragtag army soundly defeated a well-trained, well-equipped army and later captured its commander-in-chief.

That victory on April 21, 1836, led to the creation of the Republic of Texas.

After 10 years the Republic of Texas gave way to the state of Texas, which in part prompted the Mexican War. U.S. victory in the Mexican War brought the Southwest into the American fold, opening the western frontier and achieving manifest destiny.

Because of 18 minutes in 1836 the United States of America was launched as a world power, making San Jacinto one of the most important battles in world history.

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Examples abound. Because of the oil boom ushered in by Spindletop in 1901, Texas helped inaugurate the mass exploration and production of oil. Apart from vastly increasing the wealth of Texas, this gave birth to the modern petrochemical industry and thus changed the world.

Even the future is affected by the past. Texas is the largest generator of wind energy in the nation.

We also lead the nation in the promotion and exploration of offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico.

Know who’s responsible? Sam Houston. Thanks to ol’ Sam Houston when Texas entered the Union in 1846 we maintained sovereign rights to all submerged lands 10 miles into the Gulf. This decision has earned Texas more than $6 billion that would have otherwise gone into federal coffers from offshore oil and gas.

Lesser coastal states don’t have the same provision. So more than 160 years ago Sam Houston ensured Texas would be the leader for offshore wind energy.

It is fitting the first major Gulf wind farm will be built just offshore from the city that bears his name.

Therefore, if you wonder why we celebrate Texas Independence Day, why there is still a Texas History Month, I hope you will remember that Texas is a special place and it is made so because of our history.

Thanks to Texans like Austin, Houston, Juan Seguin and others, we can see a bright future, for we stand on the shoulders of giants.

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The above op-ed piece brought to by Traders Guide of Texas and the Texas General Land Office, Jerry Patterson, commissioner. Mark Dallas Loeffler is director of the Office of Communications.

BIG SANDY, Texas — Acting on a tip from a popular national television program, law-enforcement officials in East Texas swooped down on a residence in the 700 block of North Tyler Street (Texas Highway 155) in Big Sandy early on the afternoon of Dec. 9, 2008, to arrest a fugitive who had been on the lam since the spring of 2005.

Taken into custody without major incident was Duane Beard Jr., who is accused of murdering a woman in Kansas City, Mo., on March 29, 2005.

Sheriff Anthony Betterton of Gilmer, seat of Upshur County, confirmed the arrest.

PHOTO: Looking north on Texas Highway 155, also known as Tyler Street, in Big Sandy during the successful effort to recapture a fugitive accused of murder in Kansas City. Article continues after photos, below. [Photo by TradersGuideofTexas.com]

PHOTO: Looking south in the 700 block of North Tyler Street, also known as Texas Highway 155, in Big Sandy during law-enforcement officers’ successful efforts to arrest a man accused of murder in Kansas City. [Photo by TradersGuideofTexas.com]

PHOTO: Duane “T-Bone” Beard Jr., captured in Big Sandy, Texas, Dec. 9, 2008, is shown here in a police photo from 2005.

Law enforcers informed a reporter for The Big Sandy & Hawkins Journal that someone who had seen information about Mr. Beard on the television program America’s Most Wanted had blown the whistle on the fugitive, leading to the arrest.

According to the report posted at AMW’s Web site, Duane “T-Bone” Beard shot Sherry Stewart and Samantha Curlee after they had borrowed money from him. Ms. Stewart was dead on arrival at a Kansas City hospital shortly after the shooting.

Mr. Beard was arrested and released on $300,000 bond but skipped bail, and his whereabouts was unknown by law enforcers until shortly before his recapture.

Read more at America’s Most Wanted.

If something’s in print it must be true, right? Well, maybe and maybe not. See what you think about Yahoo’s daily “odd news” wire. Check here every day for a different batch of unusual and educational stories.

Click here for unusual stories from Yahoo and The Associated Press.

GILMER, Texas — Gilmer Mirror editor Mac Overton reported that a Gilmer resident entered the offices of the newspaper Aug. 19 and informed employees that a dead cow was lying in the rain-soaked intersection just outside the building.

Sure enough, the deceased bovine was sprawled in the street where Highways 271/155 and 154 cross.

“No, I don’t know what happened,” Mr. Overton told Traders Guide of Texas. “I suspect some rancher got to the sale barn and wondered what had happened to his cow.

“This pic will probably be in Saturday’s edition [of The Gilmer Mirror]. Maybe by then police will have more info. Meanwhile, I wonder if someone had rare steak for dinner tonight. Apparently the poor cow must have died instantly, thankfully.”

Mr. Overton said a city employee removed the animal by attaching it by chain to a truck and hauling it away.

PHOTO: A dead cow lies in a busy intersection in Gilmer, Texas, Aug. 19, 2008. Apparently the animal fell off a truck, possibly on the way to a sale barn. [Photo by Mac Overton]

A bank in Altoona, Pa., has filed suit against one of its customers after he spent nearly $300,000 mistakenly deposited into his account.

But wait. He didn’t spend any of it until after he had tried repeatedly to give the money back. So finally he gave up trying to give it back and spent more than $150,000. The bank discovered its mistake and is suing to recover the loot. Is that fair? What would you do? Read all about it.