The picture of
president Bush and Karl Rove, his closest
advisor, with tears in his eyes speaks louder than a thousand words.
The
president cannot cry for the lives lost in Iraq, but he shows he has a
heart
when it affects him directly.
Ms. Lockwood is
making assumptions based upon
her bias and limited experience. President Bush cares greatly for the
sacrifices made by our heroes in uniform. Lockwood and others of her
mindset
have not been invited to the private meetings President Bush has had
with
family members of servicemen lost in battle and for good reason. Karl
Rove is a
personal friend and public person, so why should President Bush not
show a
sense of loss in public?
His display of
feelings and emotions with the families of
our fallen heroes are none of her cynical, ignorant business.
Response
to: Standing water in street in front of county
courthouse annex.
The Bastrop Advertiser, 22 July, 2006.
By Don Loucks
[I wrote
this because it is high time that the
City of Bastrop fix the mess in front of the new county courthouse
annex. It actually elicited an email response which is included
following my letter. Don]
It is time
for the City of Bastrop to fix the unsightly mess
on Pecan Street in front of the county courthouse annex.
Rain produces a large, unsanitary pool of standing
water in the parking places there, not to mention the difficulty of
stepping
into a dirty puddle when alighting from one’s car.
After undertaking
massive street renovation elsewhere, one
would think that Mayor Tom Scott and the new city manager, Mike Talbot
could at
least apply an asphalt overlay on the low area instead of painting
underwater
parking stripes.
Don Loucks
Cedar Creek
Former County Commissioner
Response to my letter by Matt Arthur (marthur@intergate.com), Employee
of Texas Aggregates, at the Bastrop facility. When I was
commissioner, I did not purchase road material from TA.
maybe you should stop worrying about the lake in front of the courthouse and
start
trying to pick up all of your political signs that are falling apart and blowing
all over
the county.
Matt
My response to Matt's email:
Gosh, Matt,
thanks for reading my letter!
If you would
be so kind as to inform me where all these signs are I would be happy
to pick them up.
After
all, it's really too much to ask for a conscientious citizen like
you to take it upon himself to just go ahead and pick them up and place
them in the trash.
Don
Response
to: "Outgoing BISD trustees deserved recognition at BHS
graduation"
The Bastrop Advertiser, Saturday, 10 June 2006.
By Bill Chess
Note: Bill Chess
is one of the most kind, thoughtful and generous
men I have ever met. Bill understands
what makes people tick. He dislikes
injustice and strives to always do the right thing, and to ease others
pain. It did not surprise me at all to see
this letter in the Advertiser
I attended Bastrop
High School graduation and was handed the
commencement program. The list of scholarships was impressive, but the
back
cover was a disappointment.
The program failed to
recognize two trustees who served for
the entire year but were not re-elected.
Why could not those
who drafted the program either listed
both those who served during the past year and those who will serve, or
simply
label the names of board members as “incoming” or “outgoing?”
I know both those who
were defeated. Both have served the school
district with
distinction. Both were perhaps overly confident about being re-elected. But that’s beside the point.
The point is that
both Mr. Thrift and Ms. Schumacher deserve
to be recognized for their contributions. At
a minimum, both should have at least have had their names
on the
program for graduation at the end of the year they served.
Ignoring the hard
work of dedicated people is a long-time
Bastrop tradition. While many gush at how friendly Bastrop is, it
doesn’t take
long to understand that friendliness is only extended to those who keep
their
heads down and their mouths shut. Those
who serve in public office are often discarded without second thought. It makes me wonder if those of us who have
served in public office are considered “suckers” for actually believing
our
work might possibly be appreciated.
Bastrop ISD has
failed once again in setting the example for
its graduates, this time in basic manners.
Response to: Writer
asks “Is this what we voted for?”
The Bastrop Advertiser
6 May, 2006
By Shirley Adams, Cedar Creek
It
is not every day that a letter like Mrs. Adam’s comes
along. When reading this letter it
occurred to me that on should ask what she got right rather than what
she got
wrong because it would take a lot less time to answer that question. The rest is either falsehood or distortion
(my parents taught me that distortion IS falsehood, but others differ
on that
point).
Also, it is
evident that Democrat precinct chairmen have a
hard time identifying themselves as such. Like
Judy Seymore, Adams shies away from that label. But
she is, in fact a Democrat precinct
chairman.
It’s been a while
since I have taken apart a letter like
this, so enjoy!
Note: Letter is in italics,
response is in regular type
(What does one call “regular” type?).
In 2003 we in Bastrop
County voted for Emergency Services
District #1. I voted for the district,
knowing we all would be paying for reliable fire and emergency services
and,
finally, these individual volunteer fire departments would get much
needed
trucks and equipment.
Not so fast! We
don’t know that Adams voted for it. Considering
the bad-mouthing the ESD received
from prominent Democrats, Adams’ claim is doubtful.
There was not any
guarantee that we would get “reliable fire
and emergency services,” etc. What an
ESD would do is IMPROVE the reliability of fire department service and
give the
ESD the ability to purchase modern equipment where needed.
As we entered the
2000s, rural fire districts had a chance
to upgrade. We voted for this with 2,162
in favor (52.13% to 1,985 against (47.86%). It
was very close, wining by 177 votes.
Actually, there
were four elections, three of which Adams
ignores. There were four separate areas
conducting elections all of which were in the proposed ESD boundaries:
(Stay
with me here) 1. Bastrop County NOT in any municipality’s
Extraterritorial
Jurisdiction (ETJ), 2. Bastrop County AND City of Bastrop ETJ, 3.
Bastrop
County AND Austin ETJ, and, 4. Bastrop County AND Mustang Ridge ETJ.
The critical
facts that Adams fails
to mention are these: The Bastrop County areas in the Austin and
Mustang Ridge
ETJs voted AGAINST joining the ESD by margins where less than ten votes
were
cast, total. Folks, this is an important
legal fact that will be addressed later in this response.
But, suffice it to say, the very few people
who voted chose two things: 1. Not to pay ESD tax, and 2. To not
receive ESD
service. Get it?
Over the years I have
lived in the county, I saw the rural
fire departments fight fires with absolutely no pay. Strictly
volunteers. They worked strictly on donations, man and
woman hours and equipment that was usually handed down to them by some
other
department. In other
words, long hours,
no pay and out-dated equipment.
Volunteers are
volunteers, God bless ‘em! Donations are
good, but some VFDs went the extra mile by seeking and winning
government
grants. Bluebonnet VFD’s Tanker is an
example of this work.
I voted for the
district to have new, up-to-date equipment
and compensation for these hard-working few.
Whoa, whoa,
whoa!!! Wrong, wrong, wrong!!! Equipment,
yes! Compensation, NO! ESD funds gave
the ESD the capability to allocate funds to the department(s) that
needed to
have paid, full-time, staff to serve the ESD area. Bluebonnet is
currently the
onlyVFD with two paid firefighters. The
volunteers still risk their lives for zero compensation.
I had an experience
with the ESD#1 last year that showed me
the district was not as professional as I assumed. I am
simplifying what transpired. I responded to a public notice the
district
published in the Bastrop Advertiser regarding contract for office
services. My bid was
accepted and a contract was to
forwarded to me.
Adam’s bid was
RECEIVED, not accepted. There is a big
difference. What really happened is Adams’
bid was too high and was NOT accepted. It
took a certified letter from the ESD to her before SHE
responded. Her letter to the editor
smells,
sounds and acts like sour grapes.
As with Mr. Crowe’s
“no response,” I never received the
contract. After I mailed the district a
certified letter, the district mailed me a letter stating their reason
not to
contract with my service.
I think
this is backwards. The ESD sent the certified
letter to Adams.
Then I read the April
15 Advertiser that Mr. Crowe was
removed from an ESD meeting. Apparently, the ESD commissioners did not
want to
listen to Mr. Crowe’s concerns.
No, the ESD
Commissioners did not want Crowe’s disruption
at the meeting.
I thought the purpose
of public meetings was to discuss and
answer the public’s concerns.
As odd as it may
seem, it is not. Fundamentally, public
meetings in Texas
exist to give the PUBLIC ACCESS to the goings-on of the meetings. For example, there is no requirement for the
public to be heard at a commissioners court meeting. That’s right! You have a right to free speech, but you do
not have a right to be heard.
By
what I am gathering, the district has shut off serving Stony
Point. The district has (or
has plans) to shut down two fire stations.
No, no, no! Those
who voted in the Austin ETJ, which
includes the Stony Point Colonia, rejected paying the TAX for the
SERVICE of
the ESD. Get this: It is ILLEGAL for an
ESD fire department to serve such an area unless other compensation is
arranged
(Which Bastrop County has done).
Emergency fire
service is currently being provided to Stony
Point by way of contractual arrangement between the Bastrop
County Commissioners Court and ESD #1
whereby the Bastrop County
pay the ESD to provide that
service
This sounds like someone is feeding Adams
very bad information. The ESD is, in fact, planning to dissolve
812
VFD and allocate its
territory to Bluebonnet VFD and 5 Points VFD. The station
is not to be closed. The ESD wishes to
retain the volunteers from the nearly-defunct 812 VFD.
The district is
obligated to answer to citizens, the
emergency workers, the firemen and the Office of Rural Community
Affairs and
explain their reasoning for not wanting to service everyone in an equal
and
uniform manner.
Actually, no, it
is not. Check the law.
Adams would like
to THINK it is, but, once again, reality intrudes into Adams’
special, special world. What on Earth
does the Office of rural Community Affairs have to do with it, other
than being
a means (ala LULAC) to meddle in other people’s affairs?
We voted for this
district to improve emergency services for
the county.
If this is why she voted for it, she is
(again) wrong. As was described earlier,
this ESD was not
meant to improve emergency services for the county.
It may only improve and supply the services
for the area in which the people are taxed (those who voted to be
taxed).
It seems, by what
I’ve been reading and what I have
experienced, this is not the professional service we voted for.
Please come
on out at 0400 HRS some morning and say that to
our faces when we are cutting people out of crumpled cars or saving a
house
from destruction.
The citizens of the
areas serviced by the district need to
contact their county commissioners to recall the commissioners that
they
appoint to the district and re-appoint new persons to lead the district
in a
positive, professional manner.
Shirley Adams
Clueless Democrat
Precinct Chairman, Mrs. Adams, failed to
do her homework on how an ESD is established in law.
ESD commissioners are appointed for a term
and cannot be recalled except for extraordinary circumstances. We would like to know who she and her
Democrat county commissioner have in mind as replacements, and to whom
they may
be related.
Response to: Writer
won’t ‘reach deep,’ will vote to cut off funds.
The Bastrop Advertiser
Saturday, 30 July, 2005
By Vic Vreeland
McDonald Lane, Cedar Creek
***Update 22 August***
Since this was posted, Klaus' web site has been pulled from the web.
*********************
Introduction
Vic
Vreeland is Bastrop County Precinct 3 Commissioner John
Klaus’ web
master.
He volunteered for that job after he became
infuriated over the
installation of a traffic control signal at Highway 21 and Voss Parkway
(Homestead on Hobbs Creek) where a twelve-year-old girl was killed the
year
before and where there are two schools that use the intersection for
access.
One is known by the company one keeps.
Vreeland’s letter is
reproduced below without
comment as none is needed.
Letter follows
I want to take issue
with Ms. Felder’s comments, in the 23
July edition, that I should “reach deep” to support the next series of
bond
elections. I am not interested in reaching
deep to support the failed, socialist education system known as the
public
school system.
“Socialist education
system?” Guess where the following came
from “Free
education for all children in public schools” and Abolition of property
in land
application of all rents of land to public purposes.” A little Google
searching
will enlighten you.
I was especially
tuned in to her statement “we can’t put up
a No Vacancy sign on oure high school. Oh yes we can.
You see, this may be
the only way we can slow the
destruction of the living in the “country” we have worked so hard to
attain.
Elected officials are doing little to stop the chaos, permitting
national chain
retailers to build on every square inch of area along Texas 71 near
downtown
Bastrop. They see it as more “subjects”
to lord over and the taxing entities are drooling at the influx, which
they
view as job security. Tract homes are being thrown up with little
regard to the
traffic of environmental impact.
Most everyone says
the government schools are bloated ands
ill managed, so why do keep supporting them? Because
Ms. Felder says “we must.” Why do we pay for their
existence for
our entire lives? Why do you all without
children pay all your life?
Someone told you “a
public education benefits all.” Nonsense,
if public education were so
beneficial why is the drop out rate so high? What else do you pay for
your
entire life except a public education? If
your child were in private school your contributions
would end when
he or she leaves the facility. I for
one, am sick of hearing “growth is inevitable,” “We can’t stop the
growth,” or
“we have to vote for these bonds.”
Voting no on public
school bonds may be the only way we can
up a NO Vacancy sign on Bastrop County. Preserving
what is left of country life in Bastrop County
may get
opponents of the school bonds more respect than caving in big box
retailers and
corporate track home builders.
I said it before and
I’ll say it again. Bastrop or Austin,
the choice is yours. Your elected
officials could care less if every square inch is bulldozed for retail
and
tract home development. Voting to cut
off funds, which grow government entities, may be the only tool we have
left.