R E S O L U T I O N
1-1 WHEREAS, Future Problem Solving is a worldwide competition
1-2 designed specifically for students in gifted and talented programs,
1-3 with the goal of teaching students how to think critically and
1-4 problem solve; in Texas, Future Problem Solving is headquartered in
1-5 Austin; and
1-6 WHEREAS, Of the numerous components of Future Problem
1-7 Solving, the one in which Sabine High School is involved is known
1-8 as Community Problem Solving; in this discipline the goal is to
1-9 identify a problem in the team's community, consider possible
1-10 solutions to the problem, and then begin acting on the most viable
1-11 solution; and
1-12 WHEREAS, This is the first year that Sabine High School
1-13 students have taken part in Community Problem Solving; considering
1-14 the entire State of Texas as their community, the team identified
1-15 recidivism among violent offenders as its problem and, after much
1-16 research, decided that the beginning of the solution to this
1-17 problem centers around legislation that would affect the various
1-18 forms of early release and keep violent repeat offenders
1-19 incarcerated for longer periods of time; the issue, they feel, is
1-20 safety, and today's actions will affect tomorrow's young Texans and
1-21 young Texans for generations to come; to this end, the Future
1-22 Problem Solvers began working on "Project Magoo," a Young Texans'
1-23 Bill of Rights that reads as follows:
1-24 "We the young citizens of the State of Texas in order to
2-1 spend time with our family; accept a part time job or serve as a
2-2 volunteer; meet new people; celebrate a birthday, Christmas, or 4th
2-3 of July; cruise in our cars; enjoy a movie with a friend; take a
2-4 vacation; sing in the choir or play in the band; cheer the home
2-5 team to victory; make a touchdown, catch a fly ball, or score the
2-6 winning basket; act in a play; dance in a recital; shop at the
2-7 mall; read a favorite book; ride a roller coaster; attend a
2-8 concert; hike, swim, hunt, and fish; play a video game, surf the
2-9 net; look up to our role models; relax; dream our dreams; praise
2-10 our Creator in a day of worship; and enjoy the mystery of life;
2-11 insist that our day-to-day lives must be kept safe from harm's way.
2-12 Acknowledging responsibility to take control of our future
2-13 and reach our goal successfully and to add our own remarkable
2-14 accomplishment to the feats of so many who have gone before us, we
2-15 the young citizens of Texas eagerly anticipate our turn at the helm
2-16 of citizenship and government. For with our strength, diversity,
2-17 and intellectual resources, we will create for ourselves and our
2-18 children a climate of moral richness and economic prosperity our
2-19 parents and grandparents thought impossible to achieve.
2-20 Unfortunately, Texas' schools, streets, parks, homes, public
2-21 facilities, and private properties are not secure. Consequently,
2-22 our generation has suffered the loss of life, limb, and property;
2-23 we have agonized over the victimization of our friends and
2-24 neighbors; and our lives have been eternally altered with the
2-25 innocent taking of loved ones in robberies, gang activity, drive-by
2-26 shootings, carjackings, and countless other horrendous acts of
2-27 violence. Nonetheless, we stand strong and sure. Our strength is
3-1 evidenced in our determination: we will never surrender to
3-2 cynicism and doubt or allow disappointments and broken dreams to
3-3 replace trust and joy. Our sureness is manifest in this abiding
3-4 belief: investments today in attaining safe environments for young
3-5 Texans will tomorrow yield untold dividends.
3-6 Thus, as our tomorrow becomes safe, we the young citizens of
3-7 Texas anticipate our opportunity to realize our intellectual
3-8 potentials, gifts, talents, and rights; select appropriate choices
3-9 for our life; enjoy success in our chosen careers and vocations;
3-10 influence our community by volunteering, donating, and mentoring;
3-11 act responsibly as we vote and participate in government; renew
3-12 within our spirits a faith and hope in our state and country; and
3-13 live to grow old in peace.
3-14 Aware that when little is expected little is given, yet when
3-15 much is expected much is given, we, the young citizens of Texas,
3-16 fully expect our law not only to protect us, but also to hold us
3-17 accountable for our individual and joint actions. We do not want a
3-18 "free ride" for ourselves, nor are we content for the "system" to
3-19 provide such for those who can and will do us harm.
3-20 Indeed, we hold these truths to be self-evident: 1) Our lives
3-21 are implicitly demeaned when media reduces them to a short
3-22 acknowledgment on the evening news. 2) Our lives and futures are
3-23 made fun of when the judicial process debates, forestalls, and
3-24 riddles all common sense with legal loopholes, yet fails to punish
3-25 the guilty. 3) Our lives and futures are mocked when courts
3-26 continue to provide second, third, fourth, and fifth chances for
3-27 habitual offenders. 4) Finally, our lives and futures are degraded
4-1 when they are offered as unwilling sacrifices to appease the
4-2 felon's lust.
4-3 Conversely, we believe our lives and futures to be sacred.
4-4 Therefore, when those who would do harm hold us against our wills;
4-5 when a person's privacy and very being is endangered by real or
4-6 implied threat; and when our lives, limbs, and properties are
4-7 taken, lost, or drastically and irrevocably altered by acts of
4-8 villainy and terror, these are not trivial matters."; and
4-9 WHEREAS, The Future Problem Solvers received approximately
4-10 2,000 signatures from teenagers in schools throughout East Texas in
4-11 support of making Texas a safer place by keeping violent repeat
4-12 offenders behind bars and off the streets; and
4-13 WHEREAS, Members of the Future Problem Solvers of Sabine High
4-14 School include Adam Fenderson, Andrea Linck, Billie Ann Maxwell,
4-15 Holly Morchat, Dawn Neal, Doug Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Kimberly
4-16 Thompson, Cheyenne Warlick, Benton Wink, and Lani Wooten; Joe
4-17 Stokes serves as the team's dedicated sponsor; and
4-18 WHEREAS, In drafting the Young Texans' Bill of Rights, these
4-19 outstanding young men and women have expressed their deepest
4-20 thoughts and prayers for a society free from violent crime, and
4-21 their efforts are indeed deserving of support and recognition; now,
4-22 therefore, be it
4-23 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 76th Texas
4-24 Legislature hereby commend the Future Problem Solvers of Sabine
4-25 High School for drafting the Young Texans' Bill of Rights and honor
4-26 them for their commitment to a safe and just society; and, be it
4-27 further
5-1 RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
5-2 prepared for the Future Problem Solvers of Sabine High School and
5-3 for prominent display at Sabine High School as an expression of
5-4 high regard by the Texas House of Representatives.
Merritt
Laney Glaze Moreno of El Paso
Alexander Goodman Morrison
Allen Goolsby Mowery
Alvarado Gray Naishtat
Averitt Green Najera
Bailey Greenberg Nixon
Berman Grusendorf Noriega
Bonnen Gutierrez Oliveira
Bosse Haggerty Olivo
Brimer Hamric Palmer
Brown of Kaufman Hardcastle Pickett
Brown of Brazos Hartnett Pitts
Burnam Hawley Puente
Capelo Heflin Ramsay
Carter Hilbert Rangel
Chavez Hilderbran Reyna of Bexar
Chisum Hill Reyna of Dallas
Christian Hinojosa Ritter
Clark Hochberg Sadler
Coleman Hodge Salinas
Cook Homer Seaman
Corte Hope Shields
Counts Howard Siebert
Crabb Hunter Smith
Craddick Hupp Smithee
Crownover Isett Solis of Cameron
Cuellar Janek Solis of Bexar
Culberson Jones of Brazos Solomons
Danburg Jones of Lubbock Staples
Davis of Harris Jones of Dallas Swinford
Davis of Dallas Junell Talton
Delisi Keel Telford
Denny Keffer Thompson
Deshotel King of Parker Tillery
Driver King of Uvalde Truitt
Dukes Krusee Turner of Coleman
Dunnam Kuempel Turner of Harris
Dutton Lengefeld Uher
Edwards Lewis of Tarrant Uresti
Ehrhardt Lewis of Orange Van de Putte
Eiland Longoria Walker
Elkins Luna West
Ellis McCall Williams
Farabee McClendon Wilson
Farrar McReynolds Wise
Flores Madden Wohlgemuth
Gallego Marchant Wolens
Garcia Maxey Woolley
George Merritt Yarbrough
Giddings Moreno of Harris Zbranek
_______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 626 was adopted by the House on April
13, 1999, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House