How does one get to be a certified teacher?
After obtaining a suitable college or university degree, the
state issues a teaching certificate through a process of
training. Around here, that is done at one of 20 Texas
Education Agency Service Centers. The nearest one is
located in Waco.
In today's atmosphere, it's not enough to demonstrate
competency in teaching the basic public school curriculum.
One must also demonstrate an ability to communicate
something called "muliticulturism."
Just "parroting" catch phrases and popular sayings won't get
the job done. Caught doing that, a student teacher is often
subjected to a "remediation plan," according to a
Minneapolis columnist who has been tracking the new trend in
educational certification in that state, Katherine Kersten
of the "Minneapolis Star-Tribune."
There are group sessions in which, through self-criticism,
the task which is set is for the neophyte public school
teacher to recognize and confess - guess what - their own
bigotry. This is the first step toward "cultural
competence," she wrote.
The ultimate goal, according to a report by Bob Unruh in the
on-line website WorldNetDaily about the Minnesota approach
is for teachers to "embrace - and be prepared to teach our
state's kids - the task force's own vision of America as an
oppressive hellhole: racist, sexist and homphobic."
"Anyone familiar with the re-education camps of China's
Cultural Revolution will recognize the modus operandi," he
concluded.
But it gets even better. In New York City, a lesbian
activist, playwright and City University of New York
professor, Sarah Schulman, advocates in her book, "Ties That
Bind: Familial Homophobia and Its Consequences," she offers
a strategy for dealing with homophobic trauma.
"Homophobia" should be identified as a sickness, with
families court-ordered into treatment programs.
One wonders how a child from a "homophobic" family would be
identified, then targeted and the family thus subjected to
such court-ordered counseling.
How, indeed? Would it be done by turning the public school
systems into vast political re-education camps, hell holes
in their own rite where teaching core edcuational skills
would take a back seat to shaping young minds in new systems
of morality?
One wonders.
Have you been court-ordered to any "programs" in which you
are urged to make public confessions and criticize yourself
before groups of strangers?
What about your children? Have they?
Just asking. You don't have to answer to me. You could
start with your kids.
jim@downdirtyword.com
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Health Care - The Nature of the Conundrum in a snapshot -
Americans polled say it's too little, too late from both sides
...Republicans may run political risks if they just say no.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that most
Americans want Congress and the president to keep working on
a comprehensive health care overhaul. Two-thirds supported
the goal in the survey, released Tuesday. Nearly 6 in 10
said Republicans aren't doing enough to find compromise with
Obama, while more than 4 in 10 said Obama is doing too
little to get GOP support... - Associated Press
While the debate in the nation's capital oozes along at
stalemate and the primary battles rage across the country,
Americans are starting to wonder why the wheels can't work
something out.
Obama has signalled that he's ready to take a little less
than that for which his party originally bargained.
Republicans won't budge because of what it will cost them.
Meanwhile, millions upon millions of people face a life with
no health care coverage whatsoever. Even if they had the
money, in a lot of cases it would not matter because it's
not for sale, no matter what they would pay. They're obese
or diabetic, have heart conditions or a history of cancer in
the family. Therefore, there is no way an insurance carrier
is going to take the risk.
And what is the risk? Timothy Delasandro, a Republican
candidate for Congress in District 17, has described the
health care system as a pre-paid plan that would compare to
an automotive policy that covers the cost of gas and oil,
tires, lubrication, filters and washing, waxing and the odd
tune-up, clutch job and engine change.
A Registered Nurse who works Intensive Care Wards in the
Bryan-College Station area, he says the health care industry
is hampered by an unwillingness to let nurse practitioners
dispense a lot of health care options in pharmacies and
clinics completely removed from the hospital setting.
This is a pitiful mess to witness, troops. Everyone gets
sick sooner or later - mostly sooner. It's hard to stand by
and watch friends and family suffer when there is no relief
in sight and the wheels won't budge on either side because
they've got their hemorrhoids painfully wrapped around the
axles.
Ouch!
jim@downdirtyword.com
...Republicans may run political risks if they just say no.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that most
Americans want Congress and the president to keep working on
a comprehensive health care overhaul. Two-thirds supported
the goal in the survey, released Tuesday. Nearly 6 in 10
said Republicans aren't doing enough to find compromise with
Obama, while more than 4 in 10 said Obama is doing too
little to get GOP support... - Associated Press
While the debate in the nation's capital oozes along at
stalemate and the primary battles rage across the country,
Americans are starting to wonder why the wheels can't work
something out.
Obama has signalled that he's ready to take a little less
than that for which his party originally bargained.
Republicans won't budge because of what it will cost them.
Meanwhile, millions upon millions of people face a life with
no health care coverage whatsoever. Even if they had the
money, in a lot of cases it would not matter because it's
not for sale, no matter what they would pay. They're obese
or diabetic, have heart conditions or a history of cancer in
the family. Therefore, there is no way an insurance carrier
is going to take the risk.
And what is the risk? Timothy Delasandro, a Republican
candidate for Congress in District 17, has described the
health care system as a pre-paid plan that would compare to
an automotive policy that covers the cost of gas and oil,
tires, lubrication, filters and washing, waxing and the odd
tune-up, clutch job and engine change.
A Registered Nurse who works Intensive Care Wards in the
Bryan-College Station area, he says the health care industry
is hampered by an unwillingness to let nurse practitioners
dispense a lot of health care options in pharmacies and
clinics completely removed from the hospital setting.
This is a pitiful mess to witness, troops. Everyone gets
sick sooner or later - mostly sooner. It's hard to stand by
and watch friends and family suffer when there is no relief
in sight and the wheels won't budge on either side because
they've got their hemorrhoids painfully wrapped around the
axles.
Ouch!
jim@downdirtyword.com
Monday, February 8, 2010
Old-Time Bosque Residents Praise Commissioners' Court
The County Commissioners and the County Judge hunkered down
in a rain-darkened courtroom during a chilly Monday morning
deluge.
Doom and gloom prevailed.
First, they grudgingly approved the county's bills of about
$130,000 - including $20,000 in Hillcrest Hospital bills for
a hemophiliac jail inmate.
Then they approved a site for officials to start negotiating
acquisition of seven acres for the location of a new $10
million County Jail in an industrial park owned by the
Meridian Economic Development Corporation on Highway 174.
Suitably morose, somewhat miffed, the judge spoke up and
told the audience seated in the first floor courtroom of the
newly refurbished Victorian-era building, "It's called an
unfunded mandate. They hand us a fistful every session of
the Legislature. But they don't raise taxes. You'd be
proud of them. They let us do that up here, kind of leave
it to us...Hillcrest Hospital, can't even use our local
hospital."
They set the time and date to interview two financial
advisors to direct the sale of the certificates of
obligation to build the new jail and three at-risk
construction managers for Monday, February 22.
That's when a strange thing happened.
Two elderly people who live on rural ranch properties near
the Hill County line arose to praise the court for doing
battle for them - and winning.
As their story unfolded, a profile in courage emerged. It's
the tale of how the five men who represent the interests of
a rural Central Texas County went to Austin and took on the
forces of Big Oil - not once, but twice - and battled them
to a standstill.
While he dug through a banker's box of legal briefs and
documents regarding the case, Judge Cole Word recalled, "We
kind of opened Pandora's box...We're the only county in this
state to stand up to them - so far."
He spoke of the stunned attitude of the Railroad
Commissioners and the lawyers who represented an applicant,
IWOC, Inc., for a permit to drill and operate an injection
well for disposal of unwanted brine from oil and gas wells
in neighboring Hill and Johnson County.
"It just isn't done that way," he said, shrugging. "They
really raked me over the coals down there...
"Bunch of old cowboy truckers went ahead and drilled the
well first; then they applied for the permit."
Earlier, Mr. Gerald Burns recalled how in the drought of
1953, his mother and father were forced to sell all their
livestock and move to another location, leaving the family
ranch behind after their well ran dry.
It split up the family, he recalled. He remained behind on
the ranch of close relatives while his family moved away for
the duration of the drought. So he finished high school
away from his home and family.
Mrs. Myrle Bradshaw agreed with him about those dark days of
no water. A Bosque native of the same age, she also
recalled the dark days of the late forties and the drought
years of the fifties when people were forced to leave the
country behind, walking away from their dreams and their
homes because of a shortage of drinking water.
"If this water is contaminated," said Mr. Burns, "if you
don't have drinking water for your livestock, you don't have
anything...Our concern is the water issue and the wells that
are already there."
Investigations done by an Austin law firm he and his
neighbors hired to oppose the Proposal for Decision to the
Railroad Commission on what turned out to be an unbonded,
unapproved and ex-post-facto permit to approve a well that
had already been drilled showed that the operation would not
only have threatened the water supply, it would have
polluted it with waste salt water that came from oil and gas
wells in neighboring Hill, Somervelle and Johnson Counties.
"There is none in Bosque County," said Mr. Burns.
Mrs. Bradshaw said, "The well was poorly constructed and a
danger to us in many ways, but most of all to the aquifer."
That was when Judge Word spoke up and said, "We took an oath
to protect and defend the people of this county and we don't
take it lightly."
There have been problems with deadly benzene pollution in
other areas of the Trinity Aquifer that have been affected
by the current oil and gas boom.
He recalled the arrogant lambasting he took from attorneys
who represented WEC, Inc. and Guru SWD in the permit
application.
"Even the railroad commissioners were a little bit upset
with me," he recalled.
But they wound up declining to issue the permit because the
application failed to comply with regulations guaranteeing
the safety of water resources and was not in the interest of
the public.
"They didn't do bonding. They just didn't do anything
right," said Judge Word.
Earlier, during the regular session of Commissioners' Court,
he called on rural Bosque Countians to take it easy on the
road Commissioners and their staffs.
There have been steady rains for the past six weeks, some of
them as heavy as five and six inches at a time.
"Right now, they're just covered up with work and when they
do get a chance to do some good, they watch their work get
washed down the creek in an hour's time."
jim@downdirtyword.com
in a rain-darkened courtroom during a chilly Monday morning
deluge.
Doom and gloom prevailed.
First, they grudgingly approved the county's bills of about
$130,000 - including $20,000 in Hillcrest Hospital bills for
a hemophiliac jail inmate.
Then they approved a site for officials to start negotiating
acquisition of seven acres for the location of a new $10
million County Jail in an industrial park owned by the
Meridian Economic Development Corporation on Highway 174.
Suitably morose, somewhat miffed, the judge spoke up and
told the audience seated in the first floor courtroom of the
newly refurbished Victorian-era building, "It's called an
unfunded mandate. They hand us a fistful every session of
the Legislature. But they don't raise taxes. You'd be
proud of them. They let us do that up here, kind of leave
it to us...Hillcrest Hospital, can't even use our local
hospital."
They set the time and date to interview two financial
advisors to direct the sale of the certificates of
obligation to build the new jail and three at-risk
construction managers for Monday, February 22.
That's when a strange thing happened.
Two elderly people who live on rural ranch properties near
the Hill County line arose to praise the court for doing
battle for them - and winning.
As their story unfolded, a profile in courage emerged. It's
the tale of how the five men who represent the interests of
a rural Central Texas County went to Austin and took on the
forces of Big Oil - not once, but twice - and battled them
to a standstill.
While he dug through a banker's box of legal briefs and
documents regarding the case, Judge Cole Word recalled, "We
kind of opened Pandora's box...We're the only county in this
state to stand up to them - so far."
He spoke of the stunned attitude of the Railroad
Commissioners and the lawyers who represented an applicant,
IWOC, Inc., for a permit to drill and operate an injection
well for disposal of unwanted brine from oil and gas wells
in neighboring Hill and Johnson County.
"It just isn't done that way," he said, shrugging. "They
really raked me over the coals down there...
"Bunch of old cowboy truckers went ahead and drilled the
well first; then they applied for the permit."
Earlier, Mr. Gerald Burns recalled how in the drought of
1953, his mother and father were forced to sell all their
livestock and move to another location, leaving the family
ranch behind after their well ran dry.
It split up the family, he recalled. He remained behind on
the ranch of close relatives while his family moved away for
the duration of the drought. So he finished high school
away from his home and family.
Mrs. Myrle Bradshaw agreed with him about those dark days of
no water. A Bosque native of the same age, she also
recalled the dark days of the late forties and the drought
years of the fifties when people were forced to leave the
country behind, walking away from their dreams and their
homes because of a shortage of drinking water.
"If this water is contaminated," said Mr. Burns, "if you
don't have drinking water for your livestock, you don't have
anything...Our concern is the water issue and the wells that
are already there."
Investigations done by an Austin law firm he and his
neighbors hired to oppose the Proposal for Decision to the
Railroad Commission on what turned out to be an unbonded,
unapproved and ex-post-facto permit to approve a well that
had already been drilled showed that the operation would not
only have threatened the water supply, it would have
polluted it with waste salt water that came from oil and gas
wells in neighboring Hill, Somervelle and Johnson Counties.
"There is none in Bosque County," said Mr. Burns.
Mrs. Bradshaw said, "The well was poorly constructed and a
danger to us in many ways, but most of all to the aquifer."
That was when Judge Word spoke up and said, "We took an oath
to protect and defend the people of this county and we don't
take it lightly."
There have been problems with deadly benzene pollution in
other areas of the Trinity Aquifer that have been affected
by the current oil and gas boom.
He recalled the arrogant lambasting he took from attorneys
who represented WEC, Inc. and Guru SWD in the permit
application.
"Even the railroad commissioners were a little bit upset
with me," he recalled.
But they wound up declining to issue the permit because the
application failed to comply with regulations guaranteeing
the safety of water resources and was not in the interest of
the public.
"They didn't do bonding. They just didn't do anything
right," said Judge Word.
Earlier, during the regular session of Commissioners' Court,
he called on rural Bosque Countians to take it easy on the
road Commissioners and their staffs.
There have been steady rains for the past six weeks, some of
them as heavy as five and six inches at a time.
"Right now, they're just covered up with work and when they
do get a chance to do some good, they watch their work get
washed down the creek in an hour's time."
jim@downdirtyword.com
Supreme Court Nullifies Key Provision of Campaign Finance Law:
The Outlook For District 17 - saturation media blitz
On January 21, the paradigm of partisan politics shifted on its
axis by 180 degrees.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled five to four that not only is a
corporation just another person with all the powers and
privileges of any person to sell, buy, lease, rent, issue
securities, borrow, lend, manufacture, market or license others
to do the same, it also has the near-absolute privilege of the
freedom of expression under the First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution.
It is a complete reversal of a body of law that was enacted
during the Theodore Roosevelt Administration to limit the power
of corporations to endorse and advertise their preference for
candidates in Federal elections.
What this means to voters is that they will soon be hearing from
major American and multinational corporations in saturation
advertising going into the primary elections on March 2.
All such expression had been previously disallowed by campaign
finance laws enforced by the Federal Election Commission.
President Obama called it "a major victory for big oil, Wall
Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful
interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to
drown out the voices of everyday Americans."
The Justice who wrote the controlling majority opinion in
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission differed in his
estimation of corporate privilege in this way.
"If the First Amendment has any force," Justice Anthony M.
Kennedy wrote for the majority, which included the four members
of the court's conservative wing, "it prohibits Congress from
fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for
simply engaging in political speech....
"When government seeks to use its full power, including the
criminal law, to command where a person may get his or her
information or what distrusted source he or she may not hear, it
uses censorship to control thought," Justice Kennedy wrote. "This
is unlawful. The First Amendment confirms the freedom to think
for ourselves."
The ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission,
reversed two precedents. They are Austin v. Michigan Chamber of
Commerce, a 1990 decision that upheld restrictions on corporate
spending to support or oppose political candidates, and McConnell
v. Federal Election Commission, a 2003 decision that upheld the
part of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 that
restricted campaign spending by corporations and unions.
The dispute in Citizens United stemmed from a made-for-sattelite and cable feature length film critical of Presidential Candidate Senator Hillary
Clinton. The decision reversed a holding of the Washington,
D.C., U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which upheld the FEC regulations.
In the 2008 election cycle, which coincided with the Democratic
Party's victory over Republican candidate John McCain,
Democrats increased their majorities in both chambers. Of the 435
congressional districts, 242 were carried by Obama, while 193
voted for McCain. Of the districts Obama won, 34 elected a
Republican to the House, while 49 of the districts McCain won
elected a Democrat.
In an all-out effort to win back the swing districts they lost in
the two previous elections, Republican operatives are
aggressively targeting districts and states where the Democratic
delegation has been in place for a long time. Both parties have
been preparing to defend seats that they risk losing. Democrats,
who occupy more of the swing districts, are operating more on the
defensive than the Republicans. The Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee (DCCC) has highlighted 40 Democratic
incumbents at risk in what is called the "Frontline Program."
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has in
turn highlighted 10 Republican incumbents at risk as the "Patriot
Program." They later added 15 additional names to the list,
bringing the total to 25.
Though District 17 is not one of those districts so identified,
it does have a Cook Partisan Voting Index of "R + 20." That is a
figure derived from a formula devised by Charlie Cook of the Cook
Political Report and Polidata, a political statistics and
analysis firm. In the 17th District, Republican Senator John
McCain secured 67 percent of the votes cast against Democrat
Barack Obama.
Though an estimated 63 percent of registered voters in District
17 are Republican, Democrat Chet Edwards continues to win
election after election.
The index for each Congressional District is calculated by
averaging the two prior presidential elections and comparing them
to national results.
The only Texas Congressional District considered at risk by the
DCCC, the 23rd District represented by Democrat Ciro Rodriguez,
stretches from just east of El Paso to the border city of Del Rio
and takes in Pecos, Ft. Stockton, Uvalde and Cystal City as well
as the Big Bend. The eighth-largest Congressional District in
the U.S., it has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R + 2.
The best-financed candidate in the Republican Primary, Bill
Flores, a retired CEO of a Houston oil and gas exploration firm,
has a war chest of more than $400,000 - $300,000 of which he
contributed from his own funds.
A "Pre-sorted Standard U.S. Postage" campaign mailing received by
targeted voters late last week in the 17th District is a four-
color job on slick card stock that reads this way.
"Make Sure Your Vote Counts! Complete Your Absentee Ballot
Request Form And Return It By February 23.
"If you need an absentee ballot request form, please don't
hesitate to contact our office at 1-888-704-BILL (2455)."
This means that the Flores campaign organization will be taking
on the expense of yet another mailing in response to these
requests in the 17th District, a tactic that is as expensive as
it is aggressive. It is no doubt geared to get out the Republican
early vote before the Primary on March 2.
In all available polls, the Flores organization is reported to
have scored less than 10 percent of voter approval.
The Flores war chest, cash raised for which is reported by the
FEC as $416,466, compares with a total of $138,765 raised by the
Rob Curnock campaign and $122,271 raised by the Chuck Wilson
election committee. Candidate Dave McIntyre has reportedly raised
$123,965, according to the website OpenSecrets.org
These figures compare with a war chest of $1,405,254 reported to
the FEC by Democratic incumbent Chet Edwards.
Republicans estimate that he outspent Republican candidate Rob
Curnock by 23 to one during the 2008 election cycle.
jim@downdirtyword.com
On January 21, the paradigm of partisan politics shifted on its
axis by 180 degrees.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled five to four that not only is a
corporation just another person with all the powers and
privileges of any person to sell, buy, lease, rent, issue
securities, borrow, lend, manufacture, market or license others
to do the same, it also has the near-absolute privilege of the
freedom of expression under the First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution.
It is a complete reversal of a body of law that was enacted
during the Theodore Roosevelt Administration to limit the power
of corporations to endorse and advertise their preference for
candidates in Federal elections.
What this means to voters is that they will soon be hearing from
major American and multinational corporations in saturation
advertising going into the primary elections on March 2.
All such expression had been previously disallowed by campaign
finance laws enforced by the Federal Election Commission.
President Obama called it "a major victory for big oil, Wall
Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful
interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to
drown out the voices of everyday Americans."
The Justice who wrote the controlling majority opinion in
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission differed in his
estimation of corporate privilege in this way.
"If the First Amendment has any force," Justice Anthony M.
Kennedy wrote for the majority, which included the four members
of the court's conservative wing, "it prohibits Congress from
fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for
simply engaging in political speech....
"When government seeks to use its full power, including the
criminal law, to command where a person may get his or her
information or what distrusted source he or she may not hear, it
uses censorship to control thought," Justice Kennedy wrote. "This
is unlawful. The First Amendment confirms the freedom to think
for ourselves."
The ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission,
reversed two precedents. They are Austin v. Michigan Chamber of
Commerce, a 1990 decision that upheld restrictions on corporate
spending to support or oppose political candidates, and McConnell
v. Federal Election Commission, a 2003 decision that upheld the
part of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 that
restricted campaign spending by corporations and unions.
The dispute in Citizens United stemmed from a made-for-sattelite and cable feature length film critical of Presidential Candidate Senator Hillary
Clinton. The decision reversed a holding of the Washington,
D.C., U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which upheld the FEC regulations.
In the 2008 election cycle, which coincided with the Democratic
Party's victory over Republican candidate John McCain,
Democrats increased their majorities in both chambers. Of the 435
congressional districts, 242 were carried by Obama, while 193
voted for McCain. Of the districts Obama won, 34 elected a
Republican to the House, while 49 of the districts McCain won
elected a Democrat.
In an all-out effort to win back the swing districts they lost in
the two previous elections, Republican operatives are
aggressively targeting districts and states where the Democratic
delegation has been in place for a long time. Both parties have
been preparing to defend seats that they risk losing. Democrats,
who occupy more of the swing districts, are operating more on the
defensive than the Republicans. The Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee (DCCC) has highlighted 40 Democratic
incumbents at risk in what is called the "Frontline Program."
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has in
turn highlighted 10 Republican incumbents at risk as the "Patriot
Program." They later added 15 additional names to the list,
bringing the total to 25.
Though District 17 is not one of those districts so identified,
it does have a Cook Partisan Voting Index of "R + 20." That is a
figure derived from a formula devised by Charlie Cook of the Cook
Political Report and Polidata, a political statistics and
analysis firm. In the 17th District, Republican Senator John
McCain secured 67 percent of the votes cast against Democrat
Barack Obama.
Though an estimated 63 percent of registered voters in District
17 are Republican, Democrat Chet Edwards continues to win
election after election.
The index for each Congressional District is calculated by
averaging the two prior presidential elections and comparing them
to national results.
The only Texas Congressional District considered at risk by the
DCCC, the 23rd District represented by Democrat Ciro Rodriguez,
stretches from just east of El Paso to the border city of Del Rio
and takes in Pecos, Ft. Stockton, Uvalde and Cystal City as well
as the Big Bend. The eighth-largest Congressional District in
the U.S., it has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R + 2.
The best-financed candidate in the Republican Primary, Bill
Flores, a retired CEO of a Houston oil and gas exploration firm,
has a war chest of more than $400,000 - $300,000 of which he
contributed from his own funds.
A "Pre-sorted Standard U.S. Postage" campaign mailing received by
targeted voters late last week in the 17th District is a four-
color job on slick card stock that reads this way.
"Make Sure Your Vote Counts! Complete Your Absentee Ballot
Request Form And Return It By February 23.
"If you need an absentee ballot request form, please don't
hesitate to contact our office at 1-888-704-BILL (2455)."
This means that the Flores campaign organization will be taking
on the expense of yet another mailing in response to these
requests in the 17th District, a tactic that is as expensive as
it is aggressive. It is no doubt geared to get out the Republican
early vote before the Primary on March 2.
In all available polls, the Flores organization is reported to
have scored less than 10 percent of voter approval.
The Flores war chest, cash raised for which is reported by the
FEC as $416,466, compares with a total of $138,765 raised by the
Rob Curnock campaign and $122,271 raised by the Chuck Wilson
election committee. Candidate Dave McIntyre has reportedly raised
$123,965, according to the website OpenSecrets.org
These figures compare with a war chest of $1,405,254 reported to
the FEC by Democratic incumbent Chet Edwards.
Republicans estimate that he outspent Republican candidate Rob
Curnock by 23 to one during the 2008 election cycle.
jim@downdirtyword.com
Saturday, February 6, 2010
State Senate Candidate Recounts Bad Boy Past -
He's looking forward to a chance to attract venture capital
The only willing Republican candidate for the District 22
State Senate seat that will be vacated by Wacoan Kip Averitt
went to work at the age of 14 on a hardship driver's license
to aid a father who was deeply in debt following a bruising
divorce.
They had been in Lubbock where he racked up an impressive
record for youthful infractions on his motorcycle and
climbing the catwalks of domed field house at Texas Tech.
After the divorce, they returned to the Metroplex where they
lived together during his high school years.
Within 18 grueling months of selling newspapers and
servicing a janitorial route, he recalls, the two of them
had worked themselves out of debt.
"When I tell you I'm fiscally conservative," Darren Yancy, a
Burleson insurance broker and venture capital broker who was
originally trained as an investment banker at the University
of Texas' Arlington campus, "it means I'm a tightwad."
He addressed a small Friday night gathering of voters in a
meeting room of a hotel on I-35 in Waco.
Graduating just in time for the 1987 stock market crash,
"the first real crash since 1929," he declared, Mr. Yancy
went to work selling Mazdas. He bettered his sales career
after four years to sell fire detection equipment, then
traded up to home security systems at Brinks where he helped
the national sales manager upgrade the program from a $99
startup fee to a $279 initial deal with more bells and
whistles attached.
When Brinks decided to promote him and demanded he relocate
his wife and family after leading the sales program as a
national top liner, he responded to a better offer from
Nationwide Insurance writing trucking liability, life and
casualty policies.
He has headed his own insurance and real estate brokerage
now for 16 years and branched out into researching the
market for alternative energy and biofuel programs,
desalinization plants to meet future demands for drinking
water, and a need for new and better ways of feeding our
transportation systems, industrial plants and homes to
achieve true energy independence.
His research into venture capital opportunities has opened
his eyes to many new biofuels above and beyond the solar and
wind power solutions. For instance, he claims, ocean-based
wind power turbines can generate enough horsepower to turn
electrical turbines and desalinate seawater simultaneously.
As a state senator, "I'd like to be there and be active
attracting venture capital."
He ticks off his qualifications as a social conservative.
Life begins in the womb.
Eminent domain policies as practiced in Texas are "a little
loosey goosey" to suit him. While he's not anti-growth, he
wants to see people properly compensated when utilities or
semi-public economic development corporations condemn
property. He has had several go-rounds with a pipeline
company that cut across his Burleson back yard in the middle
of the natural gas boom and located a valve station there.
That was when the second outfit came along with a similar
condemnation proceeding.
"I've got more money in my place now than I could ever sell
it for. I'm stuck," he said ruefully. State government
should become more active in protecting the rights of
property owners faced with similar circumstances, according
to Mr. Yancy.
Nullification of certain Federal mandates would restore the
guarantees of states rights in the 10th Amendment; the
retention of the peoples' individual rights under the
guarantee of the 9th Amendment that "The enumeration in the
Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to
deny or disparage others retained by the people;" and a
strict construction of the Second Amendment's guarantee that
the right of the people to keep and bear arms "shall not be
infringed."
How is something like that accomplished?
There has to be a resolution passed by two-thirds of both
houses of the legislature, then ratified by the voters. It
takes an exercise of the political will. Being a yes man
won't get the job done.
"If anyone thinks they're going to tell me that as a
freshman Senator I should take a back seat, I'm going to
tell them to have a nice day and go on about my business."
He does not believe in the evidence of global warming
because the polarity of the planet has been reversed more
than 300 times and the planet survived. Renewable energy
projects will eventually augment coal, natural gas and
nuclear projects. In fact, he claims his research shows,
modern researchers have found a way to bring a nuclear plant
on-line in less than half the present 15 years of start-up
time and have found new ways to dispose of the waste.
"Biofuels will soon be a two or three trillion dollar
industry."
What are biofuels? "To discuss that would be to divulge
trade secrets and I'm not going to get into that."
United Nations biodiversity treaties can be stopped at the
state line if legislators and voters team together to
nullify the new laws.
Cap and trade taxation is just another Value Added Taxation
sales tax scheme in disguise. "All cap and trade is, it's a
way to make you pay extra for what you use and curtail the
amount you do use."
Value Added Taxation? "That's just a poor man's tax.
That's all it is."
He favors equitable property taxation in which the appraisal
districts must adhere to a realistic cap of no more than a
certain percentage of appreciation in any single year.
Five percent? "I think that's too much."
The state water plan and water districting schemes so
lovingly prepared by Senator Averitt are a shaky
proposition. "I'm not sure I want to sign off on it."
Responding to questions from TEA Party members who object to
a new user fee of about $1,000 to drill a well on one's own
property - a provision of the new water district in which
McLennan County property owners have been placed - he said,
"I'm not for taxing the living daylights out of people."
Part of his mission to Waco involves fence mending.
He assured local residents that he would keep an office open
in Waco to hear their concerns and communicate with voters
on a daily basis.
"We have to improve McLennan County's image," he said of
current dust-ups between State Republican Party officials,
candidates and County Republican chairmen in the ten
counties of District 22 over the disputed candidacy of Mr.
Averitt, who has announced he does not wish to be re-elected
due to health concerns in spite of a draft Averitt movement.
Because of the state constitution, "There's no way McLennan
County will get carved up in redistricting the state Senate
district."
The 17th Congressional District is another matter, he
declared. Federal constitutional requirements are quite
different than those of the Texas state constitution.
Finally, he is in no mood to tolerate such inexplicable
devlopments as Possum Kingdom's hydroelectric dam being
taken off-line due to a lack of maintenance funding by the
Brazos River Authority.
"There is no other hydroelectric project nationwide that has
been taken off-line."
He applauded State Representative Doc Anderson's success in
guaranteeing $1.5 billion in DOT funds to improve and
maintain area roads.
How about education?
Mr. Yancy said "They're teaching to a test, thinking
everyone is going to go to college. We all know that 7 out
of 10 people aren't going to go to college." He called for
an expansion of "secondary level" education in vocational
and occupational industrial areas similar to the programs
found in the Texas State Technical College system.
His impression of present day educational practices.
Astonished, he said, "My kids say, 'Dad, help us with our
homework,' but they don't have any books!"
No books?
TEA Party members began an instant hubbub about the
unfeasibility of expecting every home to have a computer for
kids to use and the general unavailability of library
computer resources.
The only willing Republican candidate for the District 22
State Senate seat that will be vacated by Wacoan Kip Averitt
went to work at the age of 14 on a hardship driver's license
to aid a father who was deeply in debt following a bruising
divorce.
They had been in Lubbock where he racked up an impressive
record for youthful infractions on his motorcycle and
climbing the catwalks of domed field house at Texas Tech.
After the divorce, they returned to the Metroplex where they
lived together during his high school years.
Within 18 grueling months of selling newspapers and
servicing a janitorial route, he recalls, the two of them
had worked themselves out of debt.
"When I tell you I'm fiscally conservative," Darren Yancy, a
Burleson insurance broker and venture capital broker who was
originally trained as an investment banker at the University
of Texas' Arlington campus, "it means I'm a tightwad."
He addressed a small Friday night gathering of voters in a
meeting room of a hotel on I-35 in Waco.
Graduating just in time for the 1987 stock market crash,
"the first real crash since 1929," he declared, Mr. Yancy
went to work selling Mazdas. He bettered his sales career
after four years to sell fire detection equipment, then
traded up to home security systems at Brinks where he helped
the national sales manager upgrade the program from a $99
startup fee to a $279 initial deal with more bells and
whistles attached.
When Brinks decided to promote him and demanded he relocate
his wife and family after leading the sales program as a
national top liner, he responded to a better offer from
Nationwide Insurance writing trucking liability, life and
casualty policies.
He has headed his own insurance and real estate brokerage
now for 16 years and branched out into researching the
market for alternative energy and biofuel programs,
desalinization plants to meet future demands for drinking
water, and a need for new and better ways of feeding our
transportation systems, industrial plants and homes to
achieve true energy independence.
His research into venture capital opportunities has opened
his eyes to many new biofuels above and beyond the solar and
wind power solutions. For instance, he claims, ocean-based
wind power turbines can generate enough horsepower to turn
electrical turbines and desalinate seawater simultaneously.
As a state senator, "I'd like to be there and be active
attracting venture capital."
He ticks off his qualifications as a social conservative.
Life begins in the womb.
Eminent domain policies as practiced in Texas are "a little
loosey goosey" to suit him. While he's not anti-growth, he
wants to see people properly compensated when utilities or
semi-public economic development corporations condemn
property. He has had several go-rounds with a pipeline
company that cut across his Burleson back yard in the middle
of the natural gas boom and located a valve station there.
That was when the second outfit came along with a similar
condemnation proceeding.
"I've got more money in my place now than I could ever sell
it for. I'm stuck," he said ruefully. State government
should become more active in protecting the rights of
property owners faced with similar circumstances, according
to Mr. Yancy.
Nullification of certain Federal mandates would restore the
guarantees of states rights in the 10th Amendment; the
retention of the peoples' individual rights under the
guarantee of the 9th Amendment that "The enumeration in the
Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to
deny or disparage others retained by the people;" and a
strict construction of the Second Amendment's guarantee that
the right of the people to keep and bear arms "shall not be
infringed."
How is something like that accomplished?
There has to be a resolution passed by two-thirds of both
houses of the legislature, then ratified by the voters. It
takes an exercise of the political will. Being a yes man
won't get the job done.
"If anyone thinks they're going to tell me that as a
freshman Senator I should take a back seat, I'm going to
tell them to have a nice day and go on about my business."
He does not believe in the evidence of global warming
because the polarity of the planet has been reversed more
than 300 times and the planet survived. Renewable energy
projects will eventually augment coal, natural gas and
nuclear projects. In fact, he claims his research shows,
modern researchers have found a way to bring a nuclear plant
on-line in less than half the present 15 years of start-up
time and have found new ways to dispose of the waste.
"Biofuels will soon be a two or three trillion dollar
industry."
What are biofuels? "To discuss that would be to divulge
trade secrets and I'm not going to get into that."
United Nations biodiversity treaties can be stopped at the
state line if legislators and voters team together to
nullify the new laws.
Cap and trade taxation is just another Value Added Taxation
sales tax scheme in disguise. "All cap and trade is, it's a
way to make you pay extra for what you use and curtail the
amount you do use."
Value Added Taxation? "That's just a poor man's tax.
That's all it is."
He favors equitable property taxation in which the appraisal
districts must adhere to a realistic cap of no more than a
certain percentage of appreciation in any single year.
Five percent? "I think that's too much."
The state water plan and water districting schemes so
lovingly prepared by Senator Averitt are a shaky
proposition. "I'm not sure I want to sign off on it."
Responding to questions from TEA Party members who object to
a new user fee of about $1,000 to drill a well on one's own
property - a provision of the new water district in which
McLennan County property owners have been placed - he said,
"I'm not for taxing the living daylights out of people."
Part of his mission to Waco involves fence mending.
He assured local residents that he would keep an office open
in Waco to hear their concerns and communicate with voters
on a daily basis.
"We have to improve McLennan County's image," he said of
current dust-ups between State Republican Party officials,
candidates and County Republican chairmen in the ten
counties of District 22 over the disputed candidacy of Mr.
Averitt, who has announced he does not wish to be re-elected
due to health concerns in spite of a draft Averitt movement.
Because of the state constitution, "There's no way McLennan
County will get carved up in redistricting the state Senate
district."
The 17th Congressional District is another matter, he
declared. Federal constitutional requirements are quite
different than those of the Texas state constitution.
Finally, he is in no mood to tolerate such inexplicable
devlopments as Possum Kingdom's hydroelectric dam being
taken off-line due to a lack of maintenance funding by the
Brazos River Authority.
"There is no other hydroelectric project nationwide that has
been taken off-line."
He applauded State Representative Doc Anderson's success in
guaranteeing $1.5 billion in DOT funds to improve and
maintain area roads.
How about education?
Mr. Yancy said "They're teaching to a test, thinking
everyone is going to go to college. We all know that 7 out
of 10 people aren't going to go to college." He called for
an expansion of "secondary level" education in vocational
and occupational industrial areas similar to the programs
found in the Texas State Technical College system.
His impression of present day educational practices.
Astonished, he said, "My kids say, 'Dad, help us with our
homework,' but they don't have any books!"
No books?
TEA Party members began an instant hubbub about the
unfeasibility of expecting every home to have a computer for
kids to use and the general unavailability of library
computer resources.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Internet Straw Polls and FEC Figures Tell Campaign Story
"You can take a poll and make it show you just about
anything you want it to say." - President Lyndon Baines
Johnson going into the 1968 Primary season
As unscientific as they may be, two straw polls circulating
in Texas Congressional District 17 tell the story of the
hotly contested Republican Primary election in stark figures
with startling similarity.
In both cases, candidates Dave McIntyre, Rob Curnock and
Chuck Wilson are the three frontrunners.
In one poll published on the worldwide web out of Michigan,
candidate Dave McIntyre leads by 51.37 percent with 243
votes out of 473 cast, trailed by Rob Curnock with 22.03
percent, 104 votes, and Chuck Wilson with 12.29 percent and
58 votes.
Bill Flores trails Tim Delasandro with 1.69 percent, 8 votes
to Mr. Delasandro's 3.59 percent with 16 votes. Forty-four
respondents were undecided in the AcePolls.com-sponsored
informal straw poll featured on Edward Waller's website,
www.wallerdev.com Mr. Waller is a software engineer and
website designer who offers instant polls any time or
anywhere on any subject
In another, earlier poll generated by the Waco CBS outlet,
KWTX TV Channel 10, on January 6, Rob Curnock tallied 45.2
percent of 766 votes, leading Chuck Wilson with 23.2 percent
and Dave McIntyre with 19.7 percent.
In that poll, Bill Flores leads Timothy Delasandro with 8.1
percent of the votes, contrasted with 4.3 percent cast for
Mr. Delasandro.
Respondents were asked at that time to indicate "If the GOP
primary were held today, whom would you vote for in the race
for the right to challenge Democratic central Texas
Congressman Chet Edwards in November?"
According to KWTX Web Content Producer Micah Williams, it is
suspected that most respondents to that poll are from the
Waco viewing area of the television station.
But it's in the area of campaign finance figures that the
results are skewed heavily in favor of Mr. Flores, a retired
CEO of Phoenix Exploration, L.P., who moved to College
Station to take over his duties as President of the Texas
A&M Alumni Association.
Everything about Mr. Flores spells rainmaker, from the
pattern on his tie - an elephant hoisting an umbrella over
its head with its trunk - to his work record as an
accounting major who traded up to running energy companies
such as Marine Petroleum and Phoenix Exploration.
The figures indicating the deals he made during his career
trip across the page with hundreds of millions of dollars
tallied, indicating a thrust toward expansion and
development of domestic oil and gas fields, as opposed to
foreign production.
According to a profile published by Research and Markets.com
out of Dublin, Ireland, Phoenix Exploration, L.P., a
Houston-based limited partnership that is "an oil and gas
focused exploration and acquisition/exploitation company
with a focus in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico and
the Gulf Coast," acquired all the oil properties owned by
Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation for $340 million in 2006. The
oil fields thus acquired stretch from Belle Isle, Cameron,
and offshore Louisiana to High Island and Galveston.
During that period, the Carlyle Group and Riverstone
Holdings invested $250 million in Phoenix Exploration, L.P.
Of all the Republican candidates' Federal Election
Commmission war chest records, Mr. Flores' figures are
astronomically higher.
He has amassed $416,466 as of year end 2009, $303,865 of
which he contributed to his own account; $111,601 came from
individuals and $1,000 from a PAC.
This compares with the Chet Edwards war chest, which
consists of a reported $1,405,254, $800,355 of which came
from individual contributions, $500,069 of which was
contributed by Political Action Committees and $14,830
attributed to "other" sources, an amount that is more than
triple the Flores campaign treasury.
Mr. Flores' nearest rival in the political contributions
game is Robert Curnock with a total of $138,765, $85,761 of
which was contributed by individuals, $250 by the Republican
Party and $52,734 donated by the candidate.
Challenger David McIntyre reported no figures during that
FEC reporting period, but a report on OpenSecrets.org
declares that he has raised a total of $123,965, spent
$49,763, and contributed a sizable portion to that total on
his own behalf.
The campaign treasury of Chuck Wilson records $122,271
total, $102,271 of which was contributed by individuals
while $20,000 was added to the total by the candidate.
This has become a sore spot between the two candidates.
Wilson campaign literature mentions that of the "three
viable candidates," meaning himself, Curnock and McIntyre,
he is the only one who is not showing a substantial campaign
debt on FEC tally sheets. He is on record expressing the
opinion that it is hard to attract contributions when a
campaign fund is in debt to the candidate.
The Federal commission requires candidates to show money
they advanced themselves as loans, arriving at a net figure
of debt owed to themselves.
Mr. McIntyre has called on Mr. Wilson to alter his campaign
rhetoric and revise the language on his website. "I owe no
money!" he has declared.
Mr. Wilson has so far not responded to his request.
Contribution figures supplied by the OpenSecrets.org
website, a project of the Participatory Politics Foundation
and the Sunlight Foundation, shows that Mr. Flores
contributed $38,400 to various Republican campaigns during
the 2008 election cycle.
Aside from a $100,000 contribution he sent to the Surgeon
General of the U.S. Army for wounded soldiers and their
families at Brooke Army Hospital at Ft. Sam Houston, San
Antonio, Mr. Flores donated $31,900 to the McCain-Palin
campaign, $2,000 to the Wildcatters Fund of the IPAA, $2,200
to the Senatorial campaign of John Cornyn, $1,300 to the
Mike Huckabee for President primary campaign and a $1,000
contribution to the Republican National Committee.
jim@downdirtyword.com
anything you want it to say." - President Lyndon Baines
Johnson going into the 1968 Primary season
As unscientific as they may be, two straw polls circulating
in Texas Congressional District 17 tell the story of the
hotly contested Republican Primary election in stark figures
with startling similarity.
In both cases, candidates Dave McIntyre, Rob Curnock and
Chuck Wilson are the three frontrunners.
In one poll published on the worldwide web out of Michigan,
candidate Dave McIntyre leads by 51.37 percent with 243
votes out of 473 cast, trailed by Rob Curnock with 22.03
percent, 104 votes, and Chuck Wilson with 12.29 percent and
58 votes.
Bill Flores trails Tim Delasandro with 1.69 percent, 8 votes
to Mr. Delasandro's 3.59 percent with 16 votes. Forty-four
respondents were undecided in the AcePolls.com-sponsored
informal straw poll featured on Edward Waller's website,
www.wallerdev.com Mr. Waller is a software engineer and
website designer who offers instant polls any time or
anywhere on any subject
In another, earlier poll generated by the Waco CBS outlet,
KWTX TV Channel 10, on January 6, Rob Curnock tallied 45.2
percent of 766 votes, leading Chuck Wilson with 23.2 percent
and Dave McIntyre with 19.7 percent.
In that poll, Bill Flores leads Timothy Delasandro with 8.1
percent of the votes, contrasted with 4.3 percent cast for
Mr. Delasandro.
Respondents were asked at that time to indicate "If the GOP
primary were held today, whom would you vote for in the race
for the right to challenge Democratic central Texas
Congressman Chet Edwards in November?"
According to KWTX Web Content Producer Micah Williams, it is
suspected that most respondents to that poll are from the
Waco viewing area of the television station.
But it's in the area of campaign finance figures that the
results are skewed heavily in favor of Mr. Flores, a retired
CEO of Phoenix Exploration, L.P., who moved to College
Station to take over his duties as President of the Texas
A&M Alumni Association.
Everything about Mr. Flores spells rainmaker, from the
pattern on his tie - an elephant hoisting an umbrella over
its head with its trunk - to his work record as an
accounting major who traded up to running energy companies
such as Marine Petroleum and Phoenix Exploration.
The figures indicating the deals he made during his career
trip across the page with hundreds of millions of dollars
tallied, indicating a thrust toward expansion and
development of domestic oil and gas fields, as opposed to
foreign production.
According to a profile published by Research and Markets.com
out of Dublin, Ireland, Phoenix Exploration, L.P., a
Houston-based limited partnership that is "an oil and gas
focused exploration and acquisition/exploitation company
with a focus in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico and
the Gulf Coast," acquired all the oil properties owned by
Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation for $340 million in 2006. The
oil fields thus acquired stretch from Belle Isle, Cameron,
and offshore Louisiana to High Island and Galveston.
During that period, the Carlyle Group and Riverstone
Holdings invested $250 million in Phoenix Exploration, L.P.
Of all the Republican candidates' Federal Election
Commmission war chest records, Mr. Flores' figures are
astronomically higher.
He has amassed $416,466 as of year end 2009, $303,865 of
which he contributed to his own account; $111,601 came from
individuals and $1,000 from a PAC.
This compares with the Chet Edwards war chest, which
consists of a reported $1,405,254, $800,355 of which came
from individual contributions, $500,069 of which was
contributed by Political Action Committees and $14,830
attributed to "other" sources, an amount that is more than
triple the Flores campaign treasury.
Mr. Flores' nearest rival in the political contributions
game is Robert Curnock with a total of $138,765, $85,761 of
which was contributed by individuals, $250 by the Republican
Party and $52,734 donated by the candidate.
Challenger David McIntyre reported no figures during that
FEC reporting period, but a report on OpenSecrets.org
declares that he has raised a total of $123,965, spent
$49,763, and contributed a sizable portion to that total on
his own behalf.
The campaign treasury of Chuck Wilson records $122,271
total, $102,271 of which was contributed by individuals
while $20,000 was added to the total by the candidate.
This has become a sore spot between the two candidates.
Wilson campaign literature mentions that of the "three
viable candidates," meaning himself, Curnock and McIntyre,
he is the only one who is not showing a substantial campaign
debt on FEC tally sheets. He is on record expressing the
opinion that it is hard to attract contributions when a
campaign fund is in debt to the candidate.
The Federal commission requires candidates to show money
they advanced themselves as loans, arriving at a net figure
of debt owed to themselves.
Mr. McIntyre has called on Mr. Wilson to alter his campaign
rhetoric and revise the language on his website. "I owe no
money!" he has declared.
Mr. Wilson has so far not responded to his request.
Contribution figures supplied by the OpenSecrets.org
website, a project of the Participatory Politics Foundation
and the Sunlight Foundation, shows that Mr. Flores
contributed $38,400 to various Republican campaigns during
the 2008 election cycle.
Aside from a $100,000 contribution he sent to the Surgeon
General of the U.S. Army for wounded soldiers and their
families at Brooke Army Hospital at Ft. Sam Houston, San
Antonio, Mr. Flores donated $31,900 to the McCain-Palin
campaign, $2,000 to the Wildcatters Fund of the IPAA, $2,200
to the Senatorial campaign of John Cornyn, $1,300 to the
Mike Huckabee for President primary campaign and a $1,000
contribution to the Republican National Committee.
jim@downdirtyword.com
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Jail Site Selection Committee Recommends EDC Industrial Park
In a unanimous decision, the citizen committee steering
decisions about the new $10 million Bosque County Jail
recommended a seven-acre plot at the Meridian Economic
Development Corporation Industrial Park on Highway 174.
A subcommittee had toured and surveyed an array of nine
possible sites and settled on the recommended location
following a motion by Dr. Tom Bratcher, who is the sole
candidate for Bosque County Republican Chairman and a Baylor
University Professor of Statistics.
Dr. Bratcher said he favors the site because of its location
inside the city limits of Meridian, the available utilities
infrastructure and its proximity to the Courthouse and
Justice of the Peace office right across the 80,000 pound
gross vehicle weight-rated road.
"It will anchor the new industrial area," he commented.
Chief Architect Jeffrey E. Hefflefinger of Southwest
Architects, Inc., furnished a list of similar projects his
firm has located in Economic Development Commission
industrial parks.
The recommendation will be considered by Bosque County
Commissioners in their meeting on Monday morning. If
approved, the committee will begin negotiations with the
Meridian EDC to acquire the site.
decisions about the new $10 million Bosque County Jail
recommended a seven-acre plot at the Meridian Economic
Development Corporation Industrial Park on Highway 174.
A subcommittee had toured and surveyed an array of nine
possible sites and settled on the recommended location
following a motion by Dr. Tom Bratcher, who is the sole
candidate for Bosque County Republican Chairman and a Baylor
University Professor of Statistics.
Dr. Bratcher said he favors the site because of its location
inside the city limits of Meridian, the available utilities
infrastructure and its proximity to the Courthouse and
Justice of the Peace office right across the 80,000 pound
gross vehicle weight-rated road.
"It will anchor the new industrial area," he commented.
Chief Architect Jeffrey E. Hefflefinger of Southwest
Architects, Inc., furnished a list of similar projects his
firm has located in Economic Development Commission
industrial parks.
The recommendation will be considered by Bosque County
Commissioners in their meeting on Monday morning. If
approved, the committee will begin negotiations with the
Meridian EDC to acquire the site.
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