Roy Dunn, publisher of this paper, and I can be cited as a good example of how politics in America should work.

Our relationship began over 50 years ago. A close friend of Roy’s was my opponent when I first ran for re-election to the House of Representatives. The race was competitive, but there was no name calling or dirty politics. Later we were on different sides of an election for the Senate. Even so, we remained friendly and grew to be really good friends.

We could, and still can discuss our differences, particularly about politics without anger or ill-will; this is what America desperately needs today. I still admit, however, I managed to extract a little revenge against Roy for having opposed me in two elections. I challenged him to a soft ball game to be publicly held in Bridge City. I even boasted that being a hot-shot, fast pitch soft ball pitcher that I could defeat any team he could select using only four men. On the appointed day we appeared at a field on Round Bunch Road. There were three men and myself on my team, as promised, and I stationed my eleven-year-old son on first base. Roy quickly pointed out that I had five players, not four. I responded by claiming that I only promised to have four men and that my eleven-year-old son was not yet a man. So the game proceeded. I got my idea from having participated in a game with the “King and His Court,” a four-man soft ball team led by world champion fast pitch pitcher Eddie Feigner. The game went on and as I expected, I was able to strike out most of Roy’s team; until the final inning we were leading. One thing I forgot, however, is that Roy insisted on choosing the umpire. As his team went to bat in the final inning it seems that no matter where my pitch went, directly over the plate or even being swung at, it was called a ball by Roy’s umpire. In fact, he called enough balls that enough batters were walked across the plate to score until the score was evened up.

Even so, we have remained friends all these years.