Monty says.....

"I remain perplexed about why the incumbents are so obsessed with my support of the challengers in the TRWD election, especially considering that the incumbents have the financial support of 5 Dallas billionaires and a few Fort Worth ones too. Instead of these strange, obviously erroneous assertions about dead bodies, shouldn't they be talking about the real issues, such as clean, abundant water and flood control? Their total avoidance of the issues that matter is one of many reasons why I do support Craig Bickley & Michele von Luckner."

Though we wonder why WFAA didn't say, the incumbents backed out of the forum they had committed to attend.

If they can't keep their commitments, WHY would YOU want to keep them on the board?

Clyde says....

In a Letter to the Editor in the Star-Telegram--

Buying water board?

Something is wrong with this picture!

Item: The Tarrant Regional Water District with its subordinate Trinity River Vision Authority bought a 37.679-acre parcel near LaGrave Field for $16 million, ostensibly for flood control. The full 50 acres, appraised at $11 million, has significant environmental issues. However, TRWD/TRVA chose to avoid eminent domain and pay a premium price.

Item: After deriding a Dallas resident who owns property in Fort Worth and supports water board challengers, it turns out that board incumbents have received 11 contributions from Dallas residents (including billionaires) for $104,000 and eight contributions from outside Fort Worth for another $72,400.

To add insult to injury, the same PAC spent $108,424.76 in Dallas and Austin for campaign expenses.

Who’s really buying the water board?

— Clyde Picht, Fort Worth

Woodard says....

Dozens of citizens lost their property to the Trinity River Boondoggle. They had the will to preserve their property but did not have the wherewithal to continue the fight.

Eminent Domain! It’s been around a very long time. Its use is recorded in the Bible in the story of Ahab and Jezebel, who coveted and seized poor Naboth’s property. (KJV 1st Kings – Chapter 21).

Dozens of our citizens through the use of eminent domain lost their property to the nepotistic Trinity River Boondoggle which they believe was more for economic development than for flood control. They had the will to preserve their property. They did not have the wherewithal to continue the long fight against their government. They fought bravely, but like the defenders of the Alamo their meager provisions ran out and they were financially slaughtered.

Now comes along Monty Bennett, a man of wealth will who will not be bulldozed or bamboozled by those who hold the levers of authority in their hands. He supports Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner for the Water Board. The incumbents are running big ads that blare forth: DON’T LET A DALLAS BUSINESSMAN TAKE CONTROL OF TARRANT’S WATER BOARD.

Bennett’s answer, as reported by a local newspaper: “The entrenched incumbents continue to try and scare the voters with grandiose stories about an evil Dallasite trying to steal their water. This is absurd. For the record, I have no interest in Fort Worth’s water, or the Trinity River Vision or the Integrated Pipeline project. I’ve successfully blocked the TRWD from snatching my mother’s family land in east Texas. My only interest now is to help Mary Kelleher continue the fight against a heavy handed government agency with numerous allegations of corruption, cronyism, and self-dealing, that treats citizens, including me, very poorly while neglecting its core duties of water provision and flood control.”

Bennett is disparaged by his opponents as a Dallas hotelier. True, but the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce could well take note of the fact that Bennett is also a Fort Worth hotelier. He owns the Hilton and Ashton hotels in downtown Fort Worth. Monty Bennett a Dallasite? Horrors! The Chamber might also consider that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is printed in Dallas but the Fort Worth Chamber reads it just the same.

Texans rose up when the governor of Texas a few years ago proposed a grand multi-lane boulevard all across the state. Its construction would have uprooted farms, ranches and homes from the Gulf to the Red River. Like those Texans at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, today’s Texans fought and defeated Rick Perry’s land grab, and the Perry super highway was consigned to the dust bin of history.

Even now, ranchers and farmers are up in arms over a proposal to build a bullet train railroad from Dallas to Houston. They are ready to do whatever it takes to preserve their property.

In the 1700s, William Pitt, the prime minister of England, stood up to King George III. Pitt is remembered for his powerful defense of the rights of American colonists. One of his memorable “a man’s home is his castle” speeches that bespeaks the limits of eminent domain rings down the halls of history:

“The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail – its roof may shake – the wind may blow through it – the storm may enter – the rain may enter – but the King of England cannot enter – all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!”

Don Woodard is a Fort Worth businessman and author of Black Diamonds! Black Gold!: The Saga of Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company.

You are Invited

An invitation from the Fort Worth Business Press--

As a newspaper, we are trying to separate fact from fiction, both with our news coverage and by arranging a public forum featuring the water board candidates. The forum will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 29, at the Central Library in downtown Fort Worth, 500 W. Third St. (corner of Third and Lamar, two blocks from the Tarrant County Courthouse).

See you Saturday at Prairie Fest on the Tandy HIlls

Prairie to the People!

This Saturday, April 25, the 10th Anniversary of Prairie Fest takes place on Fort Worth's Tandy Hills.

Exit I-30 at Beach Street or Oakland Boulevard and follow the signs pointing the way to the best celebration of the natural world in North Texas.

Music, exhibits, food, fun.

Details at Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area.

Real people, real letters

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram printed letters from THE PEOPLE with a point.  Surprise!

The Tarrant Regional Water District has delivered its “annual report,” a slick, taxpayer-funded mailer supporting challenged incumbents. It contains not a word on Panther Island, which consumes most of the district’s attention and resources. 

It mentions incumbent Marty Leonard’s bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University, and bestows on incumbent Jim Lane the unique title of “secretary pro tem.” 

The four status-quo members are nicely flowered. Mary Kelleher, the only director who has challenged the status quo, and who has led the charge to inject ethics and transparency into this organization, is listed simply as “director,” with no educational credentials. 

With a master’s in educational psychology and certificates in advanced graduate studies, she is likely the most highly educated board member. 

Three challengers – Keith Annis, Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner, are vying for Leonard’s and Lane’s seats. We must ensure new blood to clean up this corrupt cesspool. Study up, and vote!

— Mark Greene, Fort Worth

The TRWD owns Eagle Mountain Lake and is responsible for mitigating and removing hazards to navigation in the lake.

Current low water in the channel at Harbor One Marina has exposed a dozen tree stumps that will be a danger to boating when the water level rises and they are no longer visible. This is the perfect time to remove them. 

Their location is known and removal is relatively easy and inexpensive. The board and management of the TRWD have flatly refused to help the boating community with this problem.

TRWD says this removal would expose it to some unspecified liability. Can anyone imagine a lamer, more outlandish excuse? 

The ordinary taxpayer is not an unalloyed beneficiary of the TRWD, but all too often a victim. 

— William S. Wright, Fort Worth

The Water Board Stinks - Part 2

Insanity - Doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Back in 2013 when there was a Tarrant Regional Water District election, one of the incumbents friends told you to "hold your nose and vote for them".

Seems that phrase is back in the "news" for the current incumbents, via a letter to the ST - I urge voters to hold their noses and vote for (incumbents), even though I think they've behaved foolishly.

So, their friends say they are doing a terrible job, they are spending money on things they shouldn't and they've behaved foolishly, but you should vote for them anyway.

Don't be stupid.  Don't be sheep.

Vote Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner on May 9th!  They don't smell at all!

Wait! Didn't THEY say that was a bad thing??

Mayor Betsy Price and other past their prime has been officials for years have been jumping up and down shouting and pointing fingers at those running for seats on the Tarrant Regional Water District board.

They try to use the straw man tactic that the evil Dallas Boogeyman wants YOUR water!  They say that's why he donates to elections.  It couldn't be because the evil TRWD is taking his private property, right?

And then lo and behold, a former mayor and Texas Congressman (whose district does NOT include Dallas) spends their time calling around Dallas begging for money.

If you haven't seen the incumbent's campaign finance report, you should take a look.  While they scream and yell that Dallas money is bad, they took money from 6 Dallas businessmen.  Say what??

Of course the Fort Worth Star-Telegram made no mention of this irony (ironic, isn't it?) and said Lane and Lenoard took money from business leaders in "Dallas-Fort Worth".  Thanks for the laugh, ST.

Remember that the next time they tell you Dallas is trying to take control of YOUR water.  While you're at it, request a copy of the IPL (Integrated Pipeline) report (produced in part by the TRWD) that shows the pipeline, which the TRWD is so focused on, takes water TO DALLAS.

You know, that place YOUR mayor joined in with to try and make water restrictions permanent.

Remember this little gem from the FW Weekly in 2012 -

Soon after, Fort Worth’s council discussed water restrictions at a pre-council meeting. They never made it to a vote. Same thing happened in Irving.

A spokesman for Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said there would be a public hearing during the summer. That never happened either.

Keep in mind what happens when nothing ever gets done.

Stop the insanity -

Vote Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner in May!

What will YOUR mark be?

We recently received the sad news that our fellow blogger, The Whited Sepulchre, was ill and the prognosis grim. It's weighed heavy on our hearts as he isn't just a fellow blogger, he's a dear friend to Texas Lone Star. If you don't know him, you're missing out. Tarrant County is a better place because of him.

He shared his last blog post today, while we're hoping it's not truly his last, it is one everyone should read.

Hats off to you, sir. We are thankful for your friendship.

Till we meet again, don't be safe...

"So please don't ever, ever waste another minute of your wonderful life with "being safe"Take risks. Destroy your perrectly laid-out shop and put in a Specialty Department. (Hello Ray!!) Get involved in politics and put Mary Kelleher to work disrupting the most corrupt institution in Fort Worth  .Raise Hell.  Find some activists to associate with, and bang some pots and pans together in the street.  WIN the Fort Worth Gay Pride parade  and then wake up the nest morning to staff your booth at a gun rights show.  I promise you that if you ever get brain tumors everyone of of those beautiful people you meet will come see you in the hospital."

Water Boarding at its Best

We can't decide which we like more, Durango's take, the cartoon or the comment...

Craig Bickley Does Not Believe In The Dallas Bogeyman But He Does Know Who The Lawn Whisperer Is

FWLNA Meeting

Last night's Fort Worth League of Neighborhoods meeting was so interesting.  It's the first time we've seen all 5 TRWD candidates in one place, due to it being the first time we've seen the incumbents out among THE PEOPLE.  They are usually in hiding, or only attending expensive events on the West side of FW.

One incumbent seemed confused on some of the water board issues, one seemed condescending.  (We'll let you use the picture to pick WHO you think that was).  You'd think by spending 9 years each on the board, they'd have learned a thing or two.  Like for instance, being "cute" usually comes back to bite your butt.

For example, Lane asking the challenger's if they knew WHO the Lawn Whisperer was...Craig Bickley assured him, everyone knows who the Lawn Whisperer is, the incumbent's Campaign Consultant...

The challengers did great last night and we will be voting for Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner.  It's time to end the insanity at the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Yoohoo, District 2!

Fort Worth City Council finally has a good candidate!  Steve Thorton a financial planner AND a 28 year Fort Worth firefighter is ready to take his seat.

Someone who can bring financial planning to the district?  Who has actually held a job for the city IN the district?

YES!!!!

Finally - Out with the old, in with the new in District 2!

Vote Steve Thorton on May 9th!!

Fort Worth City Council District 5

Here's your candidate, Bob Willoughby.  We don't know a lot about him, all we know is from the mailers we received, "YOUR" current council member sold to the highest bidder.

You gotta pay to play, it's the Fort Worth Way.  

Fix the Fort Worth Way in May!!

Vote May 9th!

Fort Worth Council District 8

Meet the challanger to the Fort Worth Way, Sharon Mason Ford!!

VOTE May 9th!!

FW for THE PEOPLE!

The question of the day is...

Does Jim Lane not know where the water district is??

We've received numerous emails since his sign went up last night in Haltom City (on the way in to Watauga).

Neither are in the water district.  Nor is there a polling place nearby.

We can't answer for him but we can tell you those who can't vote, will now be contacting some WHO can.

Someone get the boy a map.

Church & State Update- Seems the church property in Haltom City, where Lane placed his sign without permission, didn't take to kindly to it. Someone might tell him the Fort Worth Way doesn't work over here. 

Thursday: Hear TRWD board candidates & water conservation program

TRWD Board Candidates: Top row, left to right: Keith
Annis, Jim Lane, Craig Bickley
Bottom row, left to right: Marty Leonard, Michele
Von Luckner

Please join us on Thursday, April 9, 2015,

6:30 p.m., Room 207

University Christian Church
2720 So. University Drive
Fort Worth, Texas

Come hear the candidates for Tarrant Regional Water District give brief overviews of their platforms and take a few questions.

AND

Hear our Spring Program:

"Water Conservation -- Indoors and Out"

Rita Beving, Clean Water Fund, Dallas
David Foster, Clean Water Fund & Clean Water Action, Austin

Rita Beving and David Foster will present "Water Conservation - Indoors and Out."  Their presentation will talk briefly about the current state of the drought in Texas and touch on water planning as it relates to DFW. The discussion will then pivot to water conservation tips for both indoor and outdoor use including a bill passed last session that affects landscaping rules for HOAs throughout the state.  

Rita Beving is currently the North Texas Outreach Coordinator for Clean Water Fund and resides in Dallas. David Foster is the director of Clean Water Fund and Clean Water Action in Austin.