Waxahachie Daily Light (Newspaper) - January 11, 2007, Waxahachie, Texas 06 TUNDRA DOUBLE CAB TOYOTA E 9727801 PAGE 13 Warriors win Midlothian tournament PAGE 8 THURSDAY Jan 11 2007 14 Pages 1 Section Waxahachie More tr II I i I i ii 1 LARRY ECKI i 21ST SW COAR RAPIDS 52404 Cents to Iraq President outlines Way acknowledges mistakes By AP and WDL writers anH Voice of By AP and WDL writers WASHINGTON President Bush acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that he erred by not ordering a military buildup in Iraq last year and said he was increasing US troops by 21500 to quell the Where mistakes have been made the responsibility rests with me Bush said The buildup puts Bush on a collision course with the new Harvest the rain Rainwater harvesting for homeowners fea tured at conference Democratic Congress and push es the American troop presence in Iraq toward its highest level It also runs counter to wide spread antiwar passions among Americans and the advice of some top generals In a primetime address to trie nation Bush pushed back against the Democrats cails to end the war He said that to step back now would force a collapse of the Iraqi government tear that country apart and result in mass killings on an unimaginable scale If we increase our support at this crucial moment and help the Iraqis break the current cycle of violence we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home Bush said But he braced Ameri cans to expect more US casual ties for now and did not specify how long the additional troops would stay In addition to extra US forces the plan envisions committing 10000 to 12000 more troops to secure Bagh dads neighborhoods and tak ing the lead in military opera tions Even before Bushs address the new Democratic leaders of Congress emphasized their to a buildup This is the third time we are Coins See IRAQ Page 2 Residents share views on speaker of the House race President George Bush 4 6 Harvesting for is one of the featured topics to be covered in the Horticulture Commodity Session 2 4 pm at the 45th Blackland Income Growth Conference scheduled Jan 1617 at the Waco Convention Center MARK ARNOLD EXTENSION AG AGENT Renowned rainwater harvesting expert Billy Kniffin of the Texas Cooperative Extension will provide this timely topic See ARNOLD Page 2 Buyers market Retailers Holiday season exceeded expectations By MANDY BOURGEOIS Daily Light staff writer After having a week or two to catch their breath after the Christmas shopping season riish local ing successful holiday season numbers We exceeded tions said Stuart Stephenson store manager of Bealls department store in hachie We didnt really know what to expect since we were competing with our grand opening in 2005 Last year 2005 was the best Christmas weve ever had in Waxahachie With agrand opening you have the curiosi ty factor But in 2006 we did about the same Stephenson also said that the store did well by corporate expectations With a new company presi dent in place Bealls depart retailers are reporting sales during the recent holiday season exceeded expectations a trend which managers say appears See RETAIL Page 2 to be carrying over during the first month of 2007 Combs changes rule for tax hearings From STAFF REPORTS AUSTIN Making good on a promise to Texas ers Comptroller Susan Combs announced this week that she has trans ferred tax hearings from the lers office to the State Office of Administrative Hear ings to assure tax payers that they will receive fair and impartial treatment in Combs Combs signed the paperwork to make the trans fer on Jan 3 her second full day in office When a taxpayer disagrees with the comptrollers office that taxpayer is entitled to a fair and impartial hearing Combs said It is imperative to move tax hearings out of the comptrollers office to remove any appearance of bias and ensure that the integrity of the hear ing process is beyond question Un der previous comptrollers tax au enforcement officers and judges who rendered See COMBS Page 2 Texas Theater to host After By DENSE Daily Light staff writer After Hours Improv Troupe is aiming to make history as the group will make its first appear ance at the historical Texas Theater at 8 pm Saturday Jan 13 presenting an improvisation al comic show for the entire family to enjoy We are so excited to be per forming at the Texas Theater this weekend founder Shari Alfaro said We are extremely grateful to the owner Jerry Camp for allowing us to per form there Although this is their first year performing at the theater See AFTER HOURS Page 2 ed photo Members of After Hours Improv Troupe will perform at Texas Theater at 8 pm Saturday Tickets are available at the door This is the groups first appearance at the performance venue in downtown Waxahachie Compiled by ANTHONY TROJAN I was watching the news and they said that Ellis County had some hopes attached to Jim Pitts being in the leader ship and how those are gone Paul Turk Waxahachie what happened to Jim but Jim stood up for his principles Theres going to be retribution and Jim showed what kind of a stand up guy he is in and Craddick is vindictive Jims a great rep for Ellis County hes a good man ICI dont think anything is going to change said that hes heard and hes listened and all that means is Tin taking tally of names of people that went against me Payback is coming Its like what my grandaddy is a dish best served cold and I think this is going tobe business as usual Jackie Miller Jr Ellis County justice of the peace Pet 3 I think Jims a much better man than Craddick Ron Horner Waxahachie I really dont blame Pitts but I think he should have fought harder for Speaker of the Mary Ray Waxahachie If Jim Pitts will vote his constituents wishes then he is not vulnerable His vul comes from not voting his consi because he followed path and Im hopeful that now that hes broken from the Craddick leadership that he will vote his heart Im proud of the stance that Jim made standing up against Craddick and I hope that he will continue to work for his constituency Im hopeful that with Speaker pledge to have a kinder gentler administration that he will be more open to the education lobby and the will of the people Kim Kriegel Red Oak Jim and I talked about the integrity of the House and how it has changed and how much I wanted if to be the peoples House again If Jim will do that and I believe he can and would I believe that would be good for Texas If the House is divided how can it work There has been a lot of discussion today that has shown how low the trust level is in the House under two terms of Craddick Former candidate for state represen Kerry Horn at the capital Tuesday
