I have a theory: If Santiago Calatrava designed every bridge in Dallas, if all our streets were paved with gold, and if both the crime and tax rates plummeted to zero, the middle class with kids would still be fleeing to the suburbs.

Why? Dallas schools would still be awful. And that is something the Dallas City Council cannot be blamed for - although it can play a major role in correcting it.

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The Florida Supreme Court ruled 5 - 2 today that a Florida program that provides state money to fund vouchers violates that state's constitutions.  The Court held that the program violated the constitution's requirement of a uniform system of free public schools.  The Court did not directly rule on similar programs of vouchers for the state's poor and disabled students but opponents of vouchers believe the ruling will help serve as a landmark that can be used to challenge similar programs throughout the nation.  Opponents of vouchers in Texas hope that the ruling will dissuade lawmakers from considering the issue as a part of any public school finance program when the legislature next meets to tackle a court ordered reform.

Tara admits she wasn't much of a football fan - or even a sports fan.  And she went to Rice.  That was before her night at the Rose Bowl.  She felt the magic of a Texas night and shares it with others who may not have realized just what a special night Wednesday night was.

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Any Longhorn fans wanting a collection of UT songs to celebrate their school's taking the Rose Bowl and the Big Number One?  Well, here is the Web site for the UT Band that where you can get a CD of your favorite Longhorn tunes.  Or if you are too impatient you can just click and listen.

http://lhb.music.utexas.edu/sounds/

The good news for DFW Airport was that it became the 3rd busiest airport in the nation for 2004.  The bad news is that flight are leaving and not returning.  AeroMexico and Mexicana Airlines are leaving for good and taking with them over 100,000 enplanements.  The DFW Airport Board was also told that American Airlines cut 13 flights in October and expects to cut 31 more in March.  Although a modest cuts from the more than 1000 flights originating from DFW each day they do represent slippage. 

AeroMexico appeared to be leaving because it is a code-share partner with Delta (meaning you can book your flights on Delta to anywhere Delta flies) and Delta has cut its service to a mere 22 flights per day from 252. 

Vince YoungI had some serious questions about Vince’s ability to be a successful NFL QB. But his performance last night changed my mind. Sure it is easy to praise Young the day after he was named the Rose Bowl MVP for the second consecutive year. His performance last night is definitely one of the best individual performances in a big game that I can remember.

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Sandra Lewis discovers a treasure she’s unknowingly passed by for years during her search for a spice.

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Clayton Williams Jr.Cochran’s book on colorful Texas entrepreneur expected to be published this fall.

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2005 was a year full of surprises. A long-feared, levee-destroying storm overwhelmed New Orleans. Two Supreme Court vacancies confronted the President. A new pope was elected. Britain subways were attacked. Americans fought over the feeding tube of a lone, brain-damaged woman in Florida. Fires raged in Paris suburbs. Alabama began a boycott of Aruba.

A year from now, what will we say about 2006? We can’t know, of course, but here are a few guesses.

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When the Texas Concealed Handgun Law took effect in 1996, pundits and naysayers predicted anarchy. Any minute, there would surely be mass violence as armed Texas citizens began roving the streets settling arguments with gunfire. Certainly, several proclaimed, within a year there would be blood in the streets as Texas returned to the days of the Wild West.

Ten years later the facts paint a different picture. Texas under the Concealed Handgun Law isn’t the Wild West, but the Mild West. No recurrent shootouts at four-way stops, no blood in the streets. Quite the contrary, Texans are safer than before.

But why are we safer? Why did the fears of the naysayers fail to materialize?

One of the reasons I authored Senate Bill 60, the Concealed Handgun Law, was because I trust my fellow Texans. Contrary to opinions expressed on almost every editorial page across the state, I knew that when law-abiding Texans’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms was restored with the passage of S.B. 60, they would exercise good judgment and behave responsibly.

Ten years later, and the statistics continue to prove the point.

Since the passage of the Concealed Handgun Law, the FBI Uniform Crime Report shows an 18% drop in handgun murders, down from 838 in 1995 to 688 in 2004. And a 13% drop in handgun murders per 100,000 population, down from 4.5 murders per 100,000 Texans in 1995 to 3.95 per 100,000 in 2004.

In 2000, on the fifth anniversary of the Concealed Handgun Law, the National Center for Policy Analysis issued a report that indicated Texans with concealed carry permits are far less likely to commit a serious crime than the average citizen.

According to the report, the more than 200,000 Texans licensed to carry a concealed firearm are much more law-abiding than the average person.

The report illustrated that Texans who exercise their right to carry firearms are 5.7 times less likely to be arrested for a violent offense. They are 14 times less likely to be arrested for a non-violent offense. And they are 1.4 times less likely to be arrested for murder.

H. Sterling Burnett, a senior policy analyst at the NCPA and the author of the report, concluded:

“Many predicted that minor incidents would escalate into bloody shootouts if Texas passed a concealed-carry law. That prediction was dead wrong,” Burnett said.

With 247,345 concealed handgun licenses active in Texas as of December 2005, the number of law-abiding licensees has had a positive effect on the crime rate.

Texas Department of Public Safety Uniform Crime Report indicates the overall crime rate in Texas has continued to drop over the past 10 years. In 1997, DPS reported 5,478 crimes per 100,000 Texans, based on a population of 19,355,427 Texans. In 2004, with almost 3 million more Texans, the crime rate is 5,032 per 100,000.

The effect of the Concealed Handgun Law has been so positive, it has converted some of its most outspoken initial critics.

John Holmes, former Harris County district attorney, wrote to me several years after the passage of the law.

“As you know, I was very outspoken in my opposition to the passage of the Concealed Handgun Act. I did not feel that such legislation was in the public interest and presented a clear and present danger to law abiding citizens by placing more handguns on our streets,” Holmes wrote. “Boy was I wrong. Our experience in Harris County , and indeed state-wide, has proven my initial fears absolutely groundless.”

Glenn White, president of the Dallas Police Association, shared this view. “I lobbied against the law in 1993 and 1995 because I thought it would lead to wholesale armed conflict. That hasn't happened,” White told the Dallas Morning News. “All the horror stories I thought would come to pass didn't happen. No bogeyman. I think it's worked out well, and that says good things about the citizens who have permits. I'm a convert.”

To the supporters of individual liberty and the constitutional right to keep and bear arms, this outcome is no surprise. However, the Concealed Handgun Law isn’t just about personal safety. Perhaps even deeper than its roots in constitutional freedom, the Concealed Handgun Law is about trust.

And after ten years, the Concealed Handgun Law is a shining example of what happens when elected officials have faith in their fellow Texans.

The legacy of Senate Bill 60 is grounded in the concept that our government should place its trust in us, not the other way around.

JERRY PATTERSON is the 27^th Texas Land Commissioner and author of Senate Bill 60 the Concealed Handgun Law.