Ranch Road 12 buzzing with construction, and much more coming

Photos by RoundUp

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As drivers of RR 12 between Wimberley and San Marcos are keenly aware, there's a lot of road construction activity under way, mostly on the San Marcos end. Drivers can expect the activity to move closer to Wimberley and continue for at least another nine to 12 months.

TxDOT area engineer Don Nyland said that the new Wonder World Drive Extension project from I-35 to RR 12, led by the City of San Marcos, is nearing completion.

Nyland says in May TxDOT will begin widening RR 12 with full shoulders and a turn lane from the Wonder World Dr. intersection west to Pioneer Trail, about a mile in length and nine months construction time. The widening, Nyland said, will be paid totally with federal stimulus funds. He was unsure of the cost.

Although it is less obvious, more activity can be seen on the north side of RR 12 for a considerable distance, inside and along the Freeman and Ingram Ranches. Ranch fences are being pulled back 20 to 30 yards and new fencing is going up.


Pct. 3 County Commissioner Will Conley says there are several related planned projects and right-of-way acquisition going on. They include construction of a bridge over the flood prone Sink Creek section, improvements at the Hugo Rd (CR 214) intersection, the future San Marcos-to-Wimberley parkway and a complete reconstruction of the junction at RR 12 and 32.

Conley said he anticipates the county will let contracts this summer for the Sink Creek, Hugo and junction projects, with work possibly starting in August.

"A large section of the junction will be abandoned through the design work," Conley said. "I have requested that the state give that to the county. I'm working with the City of Wimberley to put together a group of stakeholders to see what we'd like it to be in the future."

The county also is moving forward on the environmental assessment and right-of-way acquisition for the parkway project. Nearly $7 million is allocated in the county's FY 2010 road budget for right-of-way, environmental study, engineering and program management. At last check, the county had spent $189,083 on right-of-way.

B. Ochoa

April rebate program set for energy-efficient appliance purchases

Update, Thursday April 1 – The Comptroller’s Office has changed the start date for reserving a rebate from April 5 to April 7 to avoid conflict with the Easter holidays.

Hays County Courthouse, San Marcos, TX – Hays County has been notified by the Texas Comptroller’s State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) that certain ENERGY STAR major appliances purchased beginning April 16 will be eligible for rebates through stimulus funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.

An additional rebate will be available if the old appliance is properly recycled according to SECO guidelines.

Consumers will have an opportunity beginning April 5 to reserve an appliance rebate. You will not be required to have selected your appliance to reserve the rebate. After the reserved mail-in rebates are awarded, any remaining funds will be rebated to consumers on a first-come, first-served basis. Shoppers will be limited to two appliance rebates and two recycling rebates per household.

According to SECO, the mail-in rebates will apply to eligible appliances purchased during certain time periods beginning April 16 and will not be retroactive to previously purchased appliances. For refrigerators, freezers, clothes washers, dishwashers and room air conditioners, the purchase period ends April 25. For central air conditioners, hot water heaters and air-source heat pumps, the purchase period ends 60 days from the rebate reservation or wait list request date.

For more information about the program and eligible appliances, or to reserve a rebate, call 1-877-780-3039 or go to www.texaspowerfulsmart.org.

Census Day press conference slated at Hays County Courthouse

San Marcos, TX – Local elected officials and volunteers will host a brief press conference in celebration of Census Day 2010 on Thursday April 1, 2010 at 11:30 a.m. at the steps of the Hays County Courthouse.

For the past six months local volunteers have been working to coordinate a community-wide promotion of the 2010 Census and its importance to all Central Texas communities.

Leaders from Hays County, Comal County, the City of San Marcos, Texas State University and other communities have worked together to encourage their citizens to complete and return their Census survey by Thursday April 1.

“Thursday’s press conference will serve as a celebration and final reminder to all of our citizens to fulfill their civic duty by returning their census form,” said Daniel Guerrero, Chair of the San Marcos Complete Count Committee. “Together our local leaders will proclaim that our communities cannot move forward until your Census form is mailed back.”

The City of San Marcos opened a Census Outreach Office earlier this month at 211 Lee Street in the Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos, formerly Bonham School. The office telephone number is 512-618-0413. On March 19, the U.S. Census Bureau opened nine Questionnaire Assistance Centers (QAC) sites in San Marcos where local residents can receive assistance with their 2010 Census questionnaires.

All Hays County QACs are listed on the Hays County website at www.co.hays.tx.us. The QACs will remain open through April 19. Area residents who have additional questions can call the following toll-free numbers for answers: For English-speaking residents, call 1-866-872-6868. If you prefer a Spanish-speaking operator, call 1-866-928-2010. The hearing-impaired may call 1-866-783-2010.

Oh once great nation of common sense and common people, where hast thou gone?

We remain at the mercy of greedy, powerful and disrespectful leaders in government and commerce. The groups in Washington DC form a Legislative Mob. They are viciously pillaging American citizens and are destroying our once-great nation

Note: We picked up this quote from an essay on the history of the two-party system in the Intellectual Conservative blog: "In his Observations on History, Benjamin Franklin wrote that parties engender confusion. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay warned against the evils to the general public that a “spirit of faction” would cause. And George Washington refused allegiance to any political party during his eight-year service as first president of the United States."

Send your respectful and common sense comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Mr. Stern at pstern@austin.rr.com, or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

By Peter Stern
Guest Commentary

"We demand that big business give the people a square deal; in return we must insist that when anyone engaged in big business honestly endeavors to do right he shall himself be given a square deal."

– President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt
Letter to Sir Edward Gray, November 15, 1913

Politics has become a Main Street cancer among America's middle class. It is like a 2-Party Failure Reality Show, and Lord knows we do not need another reality show – especially in Washington.

There is an ancient saying, "The people are a many-headed beast," and it must be appropriate when we consider that approximately 90% of propositions on ballots get approved by a mere 4 to 6% of the total number of registered voters.

The Republicans and Democrats together initiated the U.S. wars in the Middle East (Iraq, Afghanistan) under the double Bush administrations and now Obama, instead of cutting our costs over there, is continuing an ever-lasting Afghan assault.

In some ways, it is reminiscent of German and Italian forces during WWII plunging blindly headfirst into Russia, into Siberia and freezing their Nazi logos and collective butts due to the harsh sub-zero rugged terrain, just wasting lives and money in a no-win situation. In many ways, we're doing the same thing in the Middle East.

Look at the sheer waste of taxpayer dollars versus the enormous profits being made by U.S. approved contractor services. Where is the trickle-down to us domestic citizens?

AND THEN . . . the government promises jobs, but does NOT keep that promise and then based on some obscure and absurd statistics, disallows a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for all those on Social Security, Disability and Veterans benefits.

What does our government do to help the unemployed? It's increasing the unemployment tax for businesses and plans to stop extensions for those running out of benefits again, sometimes for the 5th or 6th time. What happens to the masses of unemployed NOT getting their benefits?

Objectively, what is going to happen to the middle class in the U.S.? The middle class once held the largest number of American citizens. Today, it is nearing extinction.

Furthermore, job outsourcing is killing average Americans, along with lax immigration laws that continue to permit employers to hire legal and illegal immigrants at a fraction of the cost of hiring American citizens.

Obama wants Americans to cross-train into other fields. He wants single moms to return to school. He wants returning veterans to go to college. We should be asking Obama, "Why?" What good is doing that if there are no jobs with or without a degree?

In short, plain and simple: we are a mess as a nation.

We remain at the mercy of greedy, powerful and disrespectful leaders in government and commerce. The groups in Washington, DC form a Legislative Mob. They are viciously pillaging American citizens and are destroying our once-great nation.

We are out of control. We are becoming more like the biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Historically, such cities and civilizations crumbled and decayed. They vanished from the face of the earth.

It is questionable whether we can return to some semblance of stability and normality. Look at our TV programs and even how we drive. Look at our impatience, hostility and disregard for one another.

Look at all the political and corporate games that enable governors like Sarah Palin and Rick Perry, or Senators like John Kerry and Nancy Pelosi to gain such power and control over our lives. These people have myopic vision and it trickles down to middle class voters – at least, the ones who vote.

I'm sorry to rant here, but where the heck did our nation go? Where is our self-respect and respect for all of our American virtues and priorities? Where is the respect we used to show for one another? Reality shows are causing us to lose sight of our reality!

I wish we could get rid of the Two-party system. It is killing the U.S. and is driving the middle class over a cliff to its extinction, much the way cavemen used to hunt Woolly Mammoths, which also became extinct.

In closing, I believe that the state GOP organizations AND the National GOP need to rethink more intelligently a new platform and direction, to climb out from the self-made muck that is consuming and defeating the Party's success and survival. I think the Democrats at the state and national levels should do the same.

We are scraping out the barrel for candidates who never should be considered for the offices they run for. We need to find higher quality candidates, people with brains and who care about American communities.

I also believe that the two-party system is failing most Americans and our economic well-being. The middle class is vanishing into the significantly wealthy and the extremely poor.

I further believe we need to get rid of all parties and simply vote for the BEST person for each position.

We need to limit significantly or eliminate excessive campaign contributions so that wealthy lobbyists, corporations and/or individuals can NOT purchase the best government money can buy.

Then, we need term limitations. Any elected official gets 2 terms max! After 2 terms THEY ARE GONE! Like crop rotation. Call it my LIP - Legislator Incentive Plan!

Think about it. All these suggestions will ensure that we can maintain a continuous flow of fresh, honest and ambitious slew of elected officials who will NOT be bought and who will perform their duties in the best interests of the community they serve within a 2-term limit!

Foremost, Americans need jobs!

If we continue to do little or nothing, the middle class will remain a doomed species, with its extinction in the near future.

Peter Stern, a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator, is a disabled Vietnam veteran who lives in Driftwood, TX.

For some, case is a simple feud; for others it's deadly serious

" . . . I had pictures that clearly showed the serial number on the back-hoe. It was indeed the 'hot hoe.'"

Update, Monday March 29 – We learned today that the trial has been postponed – for the third time, if we're not mistaken. This time, the prosecutors, our DA's office, reportedly had to beg off due to a technicality in the wording of the charge filed against the defendant. The word "rifle" was used rather than "firearm," which might have resulted in the whole case being thrown out.

Editor's Note: Here is a case of deadly conduct from an aggrieved citizen fit for the pages of Crime Magazine. The names have been changed to protect the innocent and the presumed innocent. The aggrieved citizen is in constant fear for her life. The case is scheduled to play out this afternoon in a Hays County courtroom, unless the defendant's attorney can find another wrench to jam the wheels of justice. We recall that old admonition not to play with fire. And it will be interesting to see how deft our DA's office is at extinguishing the flames.

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This again addresses the Bartolini-Conew spin story of a simple neighbor-neighborhood feud. Rambo Romulus is not a "neighbor" type person, he is more a Felipe Garrison type of the JC Duggary case. There are lots of similarities with Romulus and Garrison, including the local public officials who have failed to do their jobs.

We have done our part to be neighborly with Mr. Romulus. While in your (DA's) office, I went over lots of those gestures and offers of help that we gave to Romulus throughout the years. He is the way he is, except now he is more empowered because of political games played by public officials and others.

Romulus has had NO price to pay for any of his actions, except when he crossed into Sheriff Bridges and his department's territory. There is always black billowing smoke around Romulus, but when the fire ignites he moves a foot-step away, he accuses someone else and is the perpetual "victim."

Shame F. Cutlery had a back-hoe at Romulus's place for years. There were buckets/parts to the back hoe laying around in tall weeds. A local towing company owner told me that the "Hoe was Hot" and that was why Mr. Cutlery kept it at Romulus's; he also said that Cutlery was trying to sell it. Any time someone other than I or Mr. Carrington (a friend) was on my property, that back-hoe got driven behind the green fence.

I told a reporter about this and he researched it and found documents filed at the Hays County District Clerk's Office by the Guadalupe County Sheriff's Department on behalf of Caterpillar Holt out of San Antonio, concerning the back-hoe. I had pictures that clearly showed the serial number on the back-hoe. It was indeed the "hot hoe."

I and others talked to Caterpillar in San Antonio because they were very grateful that someone paid attention to that statement and acted. That is called responsibility, not a "bad neighbor."

I told officials about this, and my phone was being tapped by a friend of Romulus during (his) septic construction. I gave you names on this issue. The phone company reprimanded him, but very lightly. This is probably why during the night the back-hoe and the parts disappeared before the sheriff got there. Romulus was NO victim in this because he was present when the tow truck operator and Cutlery discussed this at Romulus's property.

Cutlery stored/parked an unlicensed, unregistered old green junker van at Romulus's place, same time as the back-hoe. They drove it during the night. Yes, we would see it leave and the next morning it would be parked in a different place on the property. Cutlery stored an unlicensed dump truck there that didn't have a current inspection or registration on it. They used it.

There was constant activity at Romulus's during the nights. We complained about those annoying activities. Cutlery was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance in Hays County and convicted by the Hays County DA's office during this very time. He got four years probation. Again, billowing black smoke and responsible – not "bad neighbors."

Another incident involving Conew's "great man and candidate" (Romulus), was four 18-wheeler loads of Class-4 clay dirt that belonged to the San Marcos ISD that Romulus was able to have diverted to his place on a Saturday afternoon and spread late on a Sunday on top of his illegal cesspools (violations of state and county septic laws). All evidence and pictures are in place on that, but (the county's) Thomas Papers, again, found no evidence. There was more than billowing black smoke, there was fire but no one did anything – "bad neighbors," or responsible?

I could give you more of Romulus's actions but I don't have the time right now. This is not the kind of person that we people out in this area call "neighbor." As you know, I am scared to death of Romulus. I don't want to lose my life because of the truly bad person that he is.

I have provided sworn statements made by Romulus on his other gun issues and psycho statements. Romulus needs to be made responsible for aiming that gun at me because if he gets away with this he will do more than aim the gun at me or someone else the next time. It is not Romulus's first gun incident. Where there is smoke there is fire.

Groundwater developers face resistance from regulators

Meanwhile, in another flare-up over potential pumping caps, investor T. Boone Pickens is suing the Texas Water Development Board in an effort to undermine the entire state pumping cap project

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Asher Price's Salsa Verde blog, or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

Read the complete story here: http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/green/entries/2010/03/24/groundwater_developers_find_la.html?cxntfid=blogs_salsa_verde

By Asher Price | Wednesday, March 24, 2010, 02:40 PM

Private groundwater developers hoping to sell water to fast-growing areas in Central Texas are facing a couple of setbacks.

Tonight the Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District, which regulates pumping in Bastrop and Lee Counties, could vote to extend a moratorium on most new well-water permits.

The moratorium was established in December on the very same day that End-Op, a water developer group led by former Williamson County Commissioner Frankie Limmer, signed a letter of intent with the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority to send as much as 45 million gallons of water per day from Bastrop and Lee counties to the San Marcos area for distribution to burgeoning development.

Limmer told me his group spent $3 million on a successful 24-day pumping test and has a right to permits for that water.

But district general manager Joe Cooper told me too much is in flux with a pumping cap being contemplated by the district and the state water development board. Plus, he said, the district is facing enough permit requests that if it doles out all the water demanded there won’t be enough for the residents of Lee and Bastrop counties in 25 years.

Don’t be surprised if Limmer’s group sues should the district extend the moratorium. End-Op has millions of dollars riding on a water deal with GBRA, but needs the OK from the groundwater district to proceed.

Aransas Project files federal lawsuit against TCEQ officials for harming endangered Whooping Cranes

This news, courtesy of a local alert reader, is a little off our usual area of coverage. But it is a reminder of the importance of careful management of our water resources everywhere in the state. The water we consume up here in Central Texas sometimes contributes to leaving our wildlife friends on the Gulf Coast high and dry.

Send your comments to roundup.editor@gmail.com or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

Here's a link to the story at The Aransas Project web site:
http://thearansasproject.org/basin-management/plucky-whooping-crane-gives-wildlife-experts-hope/

For an in-depth report on the issue see this excellent story in the Texas Tribune by Morgan Smith: http://www.texastribune.org/stories/2010/mar/11/big-whoop/

The Aransas Project has filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Corpus Christi Division, against several officials of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in their official capacities for illegal harm and harassment of Whooping Cranes at and adjacent to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

The defendants named in the suit in their official capacities are the three TCEQ Commissioners, the agency's Executive Director, and the TCEQ's South Texas Watermaster. The Aransas-Wood Buffalo flock of Whooping Cranes that winters on the Texas coast is the only natural wild flock remaining in the world.

The 2008-2009 year was the worst in recent history for the Whooping Crane, with a death toll of 57 birds, a staggering loss of 21.4% of the flock – of which 23 deaths, or 8.5% of the flock, occurred in Texas during their winter at Aransas. The Aransas Project cites the lack of freshwater inflows to the bays from the Guadalupe and San Antonio Rivers, especially during times of low flows, as the cause of very high salinity levels and depleted food and water sources for the Cranes.

Look at Kyle and you see Wimberley headed down the same property tax road

"I began to realize how much direct influence the city government has in our daily lives, and how important it is to be involved and informed about what is going on in the city . . . "


Note: Growing cities have to pay for their growth somehow, most often through property tax increases. Wimberley, just like Kyle, has a boatload of projects floating in the wings. Here's an early prediction that the next Wimberley city council will VOTE IN an ad valorem property tax, especially if that much-ballyhooed central sewage system project & loan is approved by the state. It's amazing how some current members of the council, and candidates, are so totally whimsical about the inevitability of a Wimberley city property tax. My my, how things change.

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Do City Council elections really matter?

Published in the Kyle-Buda Eagle March 17 edition

Dear Editor,

In the upcoming Kyle City elections in May there is only one contested race, it is for seat one on the City Council.

Why does it matter who you vote for? Just two years ago the property tax rate here in Kyle was 27.07-cents per $100 of assessed value, today we are at 42 cents, a 55-percent increase and with the current debts, along with the projects we are committed to, it will go up to 53-cents by next year. If we include the proposed rec center it will go up to almost 60-cents. A possible 122-percent increase in taxes over a 3-4 year period of time.

This is a direct result of the people that have been voted into office by the few hundred citizens that voted in the city elections. I realize that city politics are generally uninteresting to people going about their daily lives. I must admit with the exception of the last two city elections I had been uninformed and uninterested in what was going on in the city government. After attending a few city council meetings I began to realize how much direct influence the city government has in our daily lives, and how important it is to be involved and informed about what is going on in the city.

This is why I decided to run for city council. I encourage everybody in Kyle to get informed about the upcoming election, find the candidate you like and agree with and get out and vote, it will effect directly what your taxes are going to do over the next several years.

— Jason Welch, Candidate for District 1 Kyle City Council

Board of Education should study some of its own "unintended consequences"

The state's board of education, by contrast, feels entitled to enforce its homemade party line with a rigidity that no comp-lit pinko would dare to dream of

Note: This letter is from JC Dufresne of Cibolo. He's not a big fan of District 5 SBOE member and conservative Ken Mercer of San Antonio. Mercer and Rebecca Bell-Metereau, TSU professor of San Marcos, are squaring off for the District 5 seat in November.

More here from Wall Street Journal columnist Thomas Frank: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703734504575125971351286404.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_BelowLEFTSecond

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Mr. Dufresne at jcdufresne@satx.rr.com, or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

To the editor:

District 5 member of the State Board of Education, Ken Mercer, wants students in Texas schools to learn about the unintended consequences of the “Great Society” legislation passed during the Lyndon Johnson administration. Since neither he nor the rest of his cabal listed any, I wonder what those unintended consequences were.

Ken Mercer
I also wonder why Mr. Mercer’s cabal aren’t concerned that Texas students aren’t required to learn of the unintended consequences of repealing many of the provisions of the Glass-Stegall Act which prevented the collapse of our banking system for nearly fifty years until politicians from both parties dismantled it. Since then we’ve had a string of financial debacles, first the Savings & Loan crisis then the hedge fund collapse and now the Great Recession of 2008.

What of the unintended consequences of deregulating other industries? After the collapse of Enron which destroyed the finances of many Texans you’d think the conservative mantra of deregulation would be worthy of discussion. Even Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, now admits that the market isn’t as good at self correction as he thought it was.

Ken Mercer and his cabal claim that they need to make such adjustments to correct for the liberal bias of the volunteer teachers who give their time to write our curriculum standards and the “expert” reviewers. Oddly, most of those reviewers were in fact appointed by none other than the ultra-conservatives; except of course Ken Mercer, who couldn’t be bothered to make any appointments.

JC Dufresne
Cibolo, Tx 78108

AG says Wimberley and hill country cities have power to regulate development on their fringes

"We plan to move forward and finalize an ordinance," city administrator Don Ferguson said. "With additional development expected in the future just outside our city limits, it's important we impose and enforce regulations that will protect the quality of the runoff that goes into the waterways."

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

Read the complete story at this link: http://www.statesman.com/news/local/attorney-general-says-hill-country-cities-have-power-365290.html?srcTrk=RTR_169636

By Asher Price
Austin American-Statesman
March 16, 2010

Small cities in the Hill Country have the power to regulate development in areas just outside their limits, state Attorney General Greg Abbott said in an opinion Monday.

Abbott issued the opinion in response to a question by the City of Wimberley on whether it had the authority to enact construction rules in its extraterritorial jurisdiction — an area outside the city but subject to some city rules — to limit pollution from oil washing off driveways or from fertilizer washing off yards, among other things.

The rules could require setbacks from waterways, detention ponds to capture pollutants or silt fences to prevent construction materials or eroding soils from washing into streams.

On Monday, Abbott said the Legislature has authorized small cities such as Wimberley to implement "a water pollution control program in its extraterritorial jurisdiction" necessary to "achieve pollution control objectives" within its city limits.

Democrats convene in Wimberley – will it be a peace conference or a food fight?

Opening affirmation of the Hays County Democratic Party Convention scheduled Saturday morning in Wimberley: "One turkey, two turkey, three turkey four, five ham, six ham, seven hummus more. Say 'cheese!'"

– anonymous

By Bob Ochoa
RoundUp Editor

Ya just gotta laugh at the ridiculous predicament in which Hays County Democrats now find themselves on the eve of their county convention.

There will be no shortage of irony either. The county convention is taking place in Wimberley (first time in how long??) – the home of County Judge Liz Sumter. Sumter, you'll recall, received a sound thrashing in the March 2 primary by her challenger from the East Side, the upstart and egomaniac Jeff Barton.

We saw a photo posted on a web site on election night with Jeff prancing around atop a San Marcos bar like he was auditioning for the television series Coyote Ugly – Hays County Style. In the next photo, he was standing blithely shoulder to shoulder with bosom buddy Patrick Rose.

This was a defeat that has not gone down well among Sumter supporters, particularly in the Wimberlery Valley. But the moves for party unity are already emerging. Judge Sumter was asked to serve as the convention chair, which is sort of like the last meal before the condemned politician's appointment with the hangman – in her own back yard.

Will the insincere gestures at peacemaking work? "Are you kidding!" was the snap response from one well informed party loyalist.

A high profile West Side Democrat said recently, "Integrity is my number one requirement for a public official, and I don't see that he (Barton) has that."

"I don't want to play too much to conspiracy theories, but I/we see the collusion of real estate interests working to make development and growth easier with less regulation in Hays County," explained yet another chagrined Dem.

The dislike for Barton and his developer gang is palpable among many Democrats residing in the spacious stretches of western Hays County. There are reports that some will boycott the convention and that others are simply walking away.

Word on the street is that the new Hays County political alliance is being led by Los Quatro Amigos Barton, Rose, Will Conley and Ray Whisenant – the latter two being well known Republican honchos from Wimberley and Dripping Springs.

Conley at least, who considers himself a head wrangler in the local GOP, will have a lot of explaining to do once his deep entrenchment with Democrats Barton and Rose is exposed. Bert Cobb, who?

Conley also is sly as a desert fox. The big question is whether he can pull off helping Whisenant defeat incumbent Democrat Karen Ford for Precinct 4 Commissioner, and peel away enough Republicans from Cobb to assist Barton's run for county judge. The four amigos wouldn't be riding together if they didn't think there are sufficient numbers of Republican and Dem members of The Amigos Family to make it happen.

We dare not mention (especially not at the convention) what disaffected Dems are whispering amongst themselves . . . that Bert Cobb looks pretty good after a couple of beers. Really, the more beer they drink the more they seem willing to listen to stories of Cobb's strong independent streak, same as that little soldier guy of Straight Talk Express fame. Bert ought to drop by the convention and shake some hands.

There's another funny theory that the November election at the county level will see a clean Republican sweep – including the good Dr. Cobb as incoming County Judge, Whisenant in Pct. 4 and Mark Jones in the Pct. 2 seat, which is currently held by Barton. You see, with Sumter gone, Democrats have no real 'leaders with a plan' on the ticket. A local official observed, "Every single countywide race is an open seat (except Ford's) . . . that's what they (Democrats) did to themselves voting for Barton."

After the sweep, Barton will receive the honorary OMWC Badge, awarded by the Dem Party every four years (stands for One Man Wrecking Crew), and he'll start a new career dancing on bars along the Mexican border. Conley will have a fair amount of egg on his face, but still have enough chips left to play cards with Judge Cobb vis a vis a Whisenant win, plus all the private-to-county road conversions he's managed to accomplish and the many adoring fans that has produced for him.

Rose, of course, will be laughing all the way to the bank and the next legislative session, advancing his outstanding record of spurring on development and new sources of imported water while blocking all sensible controls on growth and consumption.

We're looking forward to a fun county convention and might even do some live blogging. Meanwhile, keep the humor.

Perry, SBOE vie for who will make Texas look like the biggest Nut Case in the country

I am not proud that the State Board of Education of Texas has acted in such a way as to give rise to the belief that the entire population of this state is, to put it gently, loco

Note: Wimberleyite Mickey Trent forwarded this letter. Apparently, the recent actions of the Texas Board of Education are unsettling to a lot of folks with a different take on what our schools' history books should properly teach our kids. Here, Ms. Trent is calling on the remaining sane States of our Union to resist purchasing textbooks with the SBOE's version of history.

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Ms. Trent at miztrent@gmail.com, or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the letter

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.

-George Orwell, 1984

I must begin this statement by establishing my identity and background. I was born in Texas, and but for a few years just after college, have lived in this state for all of my life. I was educated in the public school systems of three progressively larger Texas cities and graduated from a university in Texas. This is by way of announcing that I am proud of my state, but I am not at all proud of the current state of my state.

I am, first of all, not proud that we have a sitting governor who, if justice were done, should have been removed from office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which states: No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

The Governor of Texas who now asks to be elected to yet another term did just that – gave aid or comfort to those who proclaim their enmity toward our country when he stood before an anti-government rally and suggested secession of this state from the union. He has continued to suggest secession without cessation and has aligned himself with those in at least one other state who also speak of secession.

Second of all, I am not proud that the State Board of Education of Texas has acted in such a way as to give rise to the belief that the entire population of this state is, to put it gently, loco. Here is a suggestion for correcting the undue influence the 10 uber-conservative members of that body apparently have regarding the adoption of information to be contained in textbooks that will serve the nation’s schools.

Texas has always been very proud of its Alamo defenders. The story of Colonel Travis’s line in the sand is one Texans learn early on. It is time to draw another line in the sand and to ask our sister states to cross over and stand with us to defend facts that should be available to students who deserve unbiased information. Those who are the future of this nation should receive education not indoctrination.

I call upon the other 49 states to join those of us in Texas who deplore the actions of this board. I suggest that they can do this by telling publishers of textbooks that they will not buy any materials that incorporate the omissions and/or misstatements demanded by the Texas Ten. The only thing that works in the country today seems to be monetary pressure. If there is a blanket refusal to spend state money on the incomplete, slanted material proposed by the Texas Ten, we might see some reason returned to this process. Within our own state, I call for a serious effort to discover a way to rid this board of those who would pervert the facts in order to promote political and religious views. George Orwell warned us 62 years ago that tyranny through force is but one form of tyranny. Tyranny through control of information is another more insidious form.

M.M. Trent
Wimberley, Texas

The 'De-evolution' Of Public Education — An Oligarchy Of Historical Manipulation

How is it that a small group taken from 15 individuals on the Texas SBOE with a majority of NON-historians, all but one, is given the almost omnipotent power to determine changes to history textbooks for public education throughout the state and which also influences the modifications to history textbooks throughout the entire U.S.?

Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Mr. Stern at pstern@austin.rr.com, or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

Read the complete story at the Lone Star Iconoclast web site.

By Peter Stern
Guest Commentary

Texas is in the national news again. Unfortunately, it is not on 'America's Dumbest' television program. I mean no blatant disrespect to anyone in particular, but I am going to be brutally honest in my comments.

There is a strong movement in Texas and throughout the nation by individuals and groups who seem to be committed to push through religious and/or ultra conservative thinking into our public education process. It is occurring with a focus on curriculum, teaching views and textbooks modification and procurement.

There is an additional determination to promote Republican ideology, ideas and direction in the classrooms and textbooks. We are being told that Republicanism was more prevalent throughout American history and textbooks should pursue that direction.

Literally, the founding fathers were NOT yet Republicans, as this party was created long after the writing and signing of Declaration of Independence. The Republican Party initialized long after the American Revolution. The same is true of the Democrats.

In fact, according to Wikipedia:

"The Republican Party was first organized in 1854, growing out of a coalition of anti-slavery Whigs and Free Soil Democrats who mobilized in opposition to Stephen Douglas's January 1854 introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Act into Congress, a bill which repealed the 1820 Missouri Compromise prohibition on slavery north of latitude 36° 30' in the old Louisiana purchase territories, and so was viewed as an aggressive expansionist pro-slavery maneuver by many. Besides opposition to slavery, the new party put forward a radical vision of modernizing the United States—emphasizing higher education, banking, railroads, industry and cities, while promising free homesteads to farmers. They vigorously argued that free-market labor was superior to slavery and the very foundation of civic virtue and true American values—this is the "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men" ideology explored by historian Eric Foner.

____________

Peter Stern, a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator, is a disabled Vietnam veteran who lives in Driftwood, TX.

Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change

The conservative members maintain that they are trying to correct what they see as a liberal bias among the teachers who proposed the curriculum. To that end, they made dozens of minor changes aimed at calling into question, among other things, concepts like the separation of church and state and the secular nature of the American Revolution

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Click on this link if you wish to send a comment to the country's largest textbook publishing houses: http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/textbooks/?r=5371&id=8258-328328-GzUJxSx

Read the complete story at this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html

By James McKinley, Jr.| New York Times| Published: March 12, 2010

AUSTIN, Tex. — After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers’ commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.

The vote was 10 to 5 along party lines, with all the Republicans on the board voting for it.

Mary Helen Berlanga accused fellow members
of the Board of Education of “rewriting history.”
Jack Plunkett/Associated Press

The board, whose members are elected, has influence beyond Texas because the state is one of the largest buyers of textbooks. In the digital age, however, that influence has diminished as technological advances have made it possible for publishers to tailor books to individual states.

In recent years, board members have been locked in an ideological battle between a bloc of conservatives who question Darwin’s theory of evolution and believe the Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles, and a handful of Democrats and moderate Republicans who have fought to preserve the teaching of Darwinism and the separation of church and state.

Since January, Republicans on the board have passed more than 100 amendments to the 120-page curriculum standards affecting history, sociology and economics courses from elementary to high school. The standards were proposed by a panel of teachers.

_____________________

The Sage of Monticello is probably rolling in his grave. Who'd a thunk the man who penned these prescient words in 1802 would be denied a place in our public school history books: 'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property – until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'

Wow, they even voted to erase Thomas Jefferson

We received this dispatch from an alert local citizen who's been tracking the Baptist Convention at the SBOE . . .

Thought you'd like to know.

Last week the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE), led by Rick Perry's appointee, voted to remove Thomas Jefferson from social studies textbook standards. That's right. Thomas Jefferson -- Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and a world-renowned scholar who advocated democratic, limited government -- was deleted from a list of historical figures who inspired political change.

"9:30 – Board member Cynthia Dunbar wants to change a standard having students study the impact of Enlightenment ideas on political revolutions from 1750 to the present. She wants to drop the reference to Enlightenment ideas (replacing with “the writings of”) and to Thomas Jefferson. She adds Thomas Aquinas and others. Jefferson’s ideas, she argues, were based on other political philosophers listed in the standards. We don’t buy her argument at all. Board member Bob Craig of Lubbock points out that the curriculum writers clearly wanted students to study Enlightenment ideas and Jefferson. Could Dunbar’s problem be that Jefferson was a Deist? The board approves the amendment, taking Thomas Jefferson OUT of the world history standards."

Why?

Because Governor Rick Perry provided no leadership or voice for mainstream Texans against people who decided to substitute their political agenda for the judgment of professional historians.

Look out Kansas, Texas wants to be Number 1 in ridicule.

This is a pattern for Rick Perry.

Perry's previous appointed chair of the SBOE openly bragged about allowing his extreme views to skew history textbooks. His antics as chair were so extreme that the Texas Senate refused to confirm him a second time, and he was recently defeated by Republican primary voters. Governor Perry's current appointee as chair wanted Supreme Court Justice and civil rights pioneer Thurgood Marshall removed from a section on citizenship because he is "not particularly known for [his] citizenship."

And under Perry's appointed chair's leadership, last week the board passed more than 100 amendments to Texas' social studies textbook standards, without a single classroom teacher or historian in the discussions.

This is what happens when we sit on our butts and leave our kids futures to extremists.

PEC Board approves $111.3 million capital improvement plan

The Board also voted to establish a committee to consider and make recommendations about compensation matters to the full Board. The committee will be comprised of PEC Board President and District 6 Director Larry Landaker and the chairpersons of two other committees

Read the complete story at this link to the PEC web site:
http://preview.pec.coop/News/PressRelease.aspx?PRID=253

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March 16, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pedernales Electric Cooperative’s Board of Directors voted at its Monday, March 15 meeting to approve the Cooperative’s capital improvement plan, which outlines the schedule and budget primarily for projects relating to improving the reliability and capacity of PEC’s electric distribution system. The plan, which forecasts to 2013, includes building and improving substations, constructing electric lines and upgrading transformers.

The Board’s approval allows PEC to begin work on projects outlined in the plan, including four transmission, 25 substation, 69 electric distribution and 60 general plant projects in 2010 alone. The plan projects a $111.3 million budget for this year’s projects, down from $141.1 million spent in 2008 and $133.9 million in 2009. PEC forecasts an even smaller capital improvement budget for 2013: $61.3 million. Projects required by demands from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and the Texas Department of Transportation for infrastructure improvements and redesigns are included in the plan.

The capital improvement plan’s architect was PEC System Engineering Manager Robert Peterson. “We’ve taken a hard look at the electric system and weeded out a lot of the projects that simply don’t need to be done, and what we have left is a very good plan for the expansion of the system,” Peterson said.

The Board also voted to establish a committee to consider and make recommendations about compensation matters to the full Board. The committee will be comprised of PEC Board President and District 6 Director Larry Landaker and the chairpersons of two other committees, District 7 Director Dr. Patrick Cox and District 1 Director and Board Vice President Cristi Clement. District 5 Director R.B. Felps initiated the drive to establish the committee at the Board’s Feb. 22 meeting.

New RoundUp E-mail Address

Due to technical difficulties, we've had to temporarily change our e-mail address. Please try this new address, roundup.editor@gmail.com, to contact the editor or to send us a secure news tip. If you wish to add a comment you can click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story. As always, your comments and news tips are welcomed and appreciated.

Hays County receives $94.5 million in federal stimulus money so far

The list of recipients range from dental practices to cash for clunkers, real estate companies and Pell education grants for Texas State U

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or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

Thanks to an alert reader, we accessed this file, http://projects.propublica.org/recovery/locale/texas/hays from ProPublica, which is tracking federal stimulus funding across the country. These are contracts, grants and loans from a laundry list of federal agencies thus far totaling $312.7 billion. Through March, 2010, Hays County has received $94,558,952, while the State of Texas has received $18.7 billion – you know, that socialist government money Gov. Rick Perry said he wasn't going to take.

Two such small business loans in amounts of $328,000 and $497,000 have made their way to two local dental practices, one in Wimberley and one in Dripping Springs. Dr. Robert D. White of Wimberley said the only good thing about his (SBA) loan for construction of a new dental practice building (soon to open across from the post office) is that the interest rate will be locked in for 20 years at somewhere between 5.5% and 6%. "It was not easy," the good doctor said. "They weren't just handing out money."

A sign company, a woodworks business and a pharmacy received $1.2 million in loans. Blue Moon Properties, Ltd., et al, received a $302,000 loan. Buda Huntington Properties Ltd. received a $1,592,897 grant to develop affordable housing.

John Massingill received a $461,786 grant to support a "Small Business Technology Transfer Phase II project (to) change the paradigm that two-phase chemical reactions must use mechanical mixing to be commercially effective."

Eight Hays County Cash for Clunkers participants have received $1.7 million, according to the report, including Chuck Nash, Leif Johnson, San Marcos Auto Sales and JMC Imports, Inc.

All school districts in the county have received several million dollars in grants, Texas State University has received $7,496,104 for its Federal Pell Grant Program, and millions more has poured in for road infrastructure and construction.

The report does not mention the number of jobs saved or created, nor does it enumerate the positive benefits for our college students and car dealerships, advancements in green energy, affordable housing, health care improvements and the like. Ninety four million dollars sure seems like a lot of juice flowing through the local economy. Hopefully the feds, our local officials and business owners will report back when their projects are completed so we can all see and appreciate 'em.

B. Ochoa

Texas Conservatives seek deeper stamp on texts

For instance, one guideline requires publishers to include a section on “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association”

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Read the complete story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/us/politics/11texas.html?hp

More reporting from the DallasMorningNews

By James C. McKinley, Jr.
Published: March 10, 2010
New York Times

The board’s chairman, Gail Lowe
Jack Plunkett/Associated Press

AUSTIN, Tex. — Even as a panel of educators laid out a vision Wednesday for national standards for public schools, the Texas school board was going in a different direction, holding hearings on changes to its social studies curriculum that would portray conservatives in a more positive light, emphasize the role of Christianity in American history and include Republican political philosophies in textbooks.

The hearings are the latest round in a long-running cultural battle on the 15-member State Board of Education, a battle that could have profound consequences for the rest of the country, since Texas is one of the largest buyers of textbooks.

The board is expected to take a preliminary vote this week on a raft of changes to the state’s social studies curriculum proposed by the seven conservative Republicans on the board. A final vote will come in May.

The lesson: Follow the Wall Street bankers' money and you'll make a killing, too

The difference between the Democrats and the Republicans today is like the difference between the Haiti earthquake and the Chile earthquake. It is one of degree and intelligent planning

Note: It's always good to hear from Mr. Boschert of Wimberley, who has an earthy way of explaining cosmical financial subjects.

Send your comments and news tips to online.editor@valleyspringcomm.net, to Rocky at arrowbiz@texasorp.com, or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story

By Rocky Boschert
Guest Commentary

As a professional money manager, I find it amusing how the politicos like to believe the US President has a lot to do with our economy and the stock markets.

In reality, the Federal Reserve Board and their banking cronies on Wall Street (and in the Treasury Department) are the real movers and manipulators of the US economy. Let's look at the facts.

In late 2008 and throughout 2009, rather than use the zero interest rate stimulus money to make loans to small businesses and consumers to re-stimulate the economy, the five biggest US bank-brokers instead invested in the stock market. Specifically, the Wall Street banker-brokers believed it was less risky to buy very oversold and under-owned company stocks that had been pummeled by the 2008 crash than it was to loan to a US consumer riddled with foreclosures and bankruptcy. It was primarily because of the stock investing by the institutional banks that US stocks were up over 60% in 2009.

america.gov

In other words, the too-big-to-fail banks made billions of dollars again, this time from "borrowing" our tax dollars at zero interest rates to speculatively invest in stocks. This very well orchestrated "corporate welfare" dream started under George W. Bush and Henry Paulson and continued under Barrack Obama (it would have continued even under a McCain presidency; any thoughts to the contrary are simply anti-Obama nonsense).

This well-designed and recurring Wall Street-Federal Reserve Board-US Treasury money supply game is simply the way our economy keeps moving from one stock market bubble to the next.

Ironically, President Obama, being the socially liberal but compliant capitalist that he is, followed in the same footsteps as Clinton the deregulator and Bush the ultra-deregulator.

All this Tea Party rhetoric about “Obama the Socialist” is laughable when we look at the stock market in his first year.

Yet the big lie still in the public’s mind today is that there is a huge difference between the Dems and Reps when it comes to the US economy. In fact, there is some, but only in their favored sectors of the economy, i.e. their select corporate backers.

For instance, under the Bill Clinton presidency, stocks in the technology, media and banking/brokerage sectors performed best.

Under the George W. Bush presidency, companies in the defense and aerospace, energy and oil service, and natural resources-mining sectors performed best in the markets.

Now, under Obama, we are back to the banking, new media, and technology (also global commodities due to a weak US dollar) stocks making our mutual funds the most money.

It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to see the relationship between the two political parties and the stock markets. In other words, both parties are to some degree bought and owned by their favored sector lobbyists. Say hello to the 1) military-energy complex, 2) medical-industrial complex, 3) banking-government complex, 4) mining-commodities complex, 5) health insurance-pharmaceutical complex, 6) real estate-construction complex, etc. Whose turn is it to be the moniker in the next stock market bubble?
prisonplanet.com
One Anonymous responder to the article below said "Bush was part of it by letting democrats and the Fed push him around" Make no mistake. Bush was no victim of anything. He and his cronies like Darth Cheney knew exactly what they were doing and made their corporate masters tons of money off war profiteering, energy speculation, and more deregulation of whatever there was left to deregulate after Clinton.

The other main difference between the Democrats and the Republicans today is like the difference between the Haiti earthquake and the Chile earthquake. It is one of degree and intelligent planning.

Haiti had little or no codes and regulations for their infrastructure. As a result, the loss of life from a 7.0 earthquake was huge and the rebuilding costs will be enormous.

Chile, on the other hand, was hit by a much more powerful earthquake (8.8) but experienced much lower loss of life and much less structural damage due to stronger regulatory rules and codes designed to prevent a debilitating national catastrophe.

Domestically, by comparison, we just finished with eight years of a Haiti-like Bush/Republican regulatory regime and we see what has happened to our economic infrastructure. Like Haiti, it will take years to get our economy rebuilt.

Yet if Obama, the Democrats, and any sensible Republicans can re-institute a Chile-like regulatory regime in the US financial system, we will someday again see a stronger real economy – and not just a temporarily better Wall Street economy that is going up largely on smoke and mirrors economic data.

In the end, however, if we refuse to change the incestuous money hoarding relationship between the Federal Reserve Board, the US Treasury, and the too-big-to-jail banker-brokers, we are probably doomed to repeat our increasingly extreme boom and bust cycles every four years or so. And once again, it will not be the bankers that lose.

On anniversary of crisis, Obama defies pessimists as rising economy converges with stocks

Huge national debt and high unemployment remain as major challenges

Read the complete story here: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aeSenIUvpSK0&pos=10

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- The political consensus may be that President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy has been weak. The judgment of money in all its forms has been overwhelmingly positive, and that may be the more lasting appraisal.

One year after U.S stocks hit their post-financial-crisis low on March 9, 2009, the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has risen more than 68 percent, and it’s up more than 41 percent since Obama took office. Credit spreads have narrowed. Commodity prices have surged. Housing prices have stabilized.

“We’ve had a phenomenal run in asset classes across the board,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist for Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. “If he was a Republican, we would hear a never-ending drumbeat of news stories about markets voting in favor of the president.”