"...too important to be influenced by an editorial with such glaring mischaracterizations."

It must be eye opening to be part of the downtown crowd and have the local "news"paper twist the message.  The masses in FW are used to it, that's why they beg for a new "news"paper to come to town.

Apparently the Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial board wrote another one of their annoying editorials and this time it annoyed someone enough to write back.  That someone is Fort Worth Councilman, Danny Scarth.  We aren't a Scarth fan due to his record, so we couldn't really tell you WHO is yanking WHO on this deal, but we can tell you it was fun to read.  The ST calling out an elected official instead of saying, yes, spend money on whatever "they" want.  And then one of "them" saying, quit writing trash.

If we don't have a real "news"paper, at least they provide some entertainment...

Why did the city hold 20 public meetings to receive public input? If we ask for public input, should we not be prepared to respond in a tangible way? 

We've been asking that for years, Danny...

Broad categories like “Urban Villages” or “Transit Oriented Development” require the public to trust city staff and future councils with millions in unspecified spending on as-yet unnamed projects. My proposal would redirect some of those dollars to specific projects approved by the council and subject to voter approval.

What's the difference?

In a private, for-profit water vendor and a public agency?

Don't answer that, it was rhetorical.

Though the Fort Worth Star-Telegram makes it sound like we all have a choice WHO we buy water from.

Under Texas law, the city has no choice but to buy water from Monarch at almost any price the company convinces state regulators to approve.

Surprisingly some Texas lawmakers tried to help (?) while Rick Perry said, uh, no.

Monarch, a subsidiary of Covina, Calif.-based SouthWest Water Co., had filed the rate notice with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, an Austin-based agency governed by three full-time commissioners appointed by Gov. Rick Perry.

Texas state Sen. Jane Nelson and state Rep. Charlie Geren tried to help Blue Mound in the last legislative session. They passed a bill allowing Blue Mound (and Blue Mound only) to condemn the water company’s system.

Perry vetoed the bill. In a statement, the governor called the taking of private infrastructure a “disincentive to development.”

Good luck, Blue Mound, people in Tarrant County have been making noise about their "public agency", the Tarrant Regional Water District, for years...Austin can't hear you until you give them a number.

A financial management company identified Texas as the most generous state in the country for granting private water vendors’ rate increases.

All Blue Mound can do is keep making noise and hope someone hears in Austin.

Are you scared?

You need to be.  Not only about what's happening at your local city hall's but that this little girl with a big heart won't get what she's after.

Seems this sweet little Keller girl is trying to raise funds for a wheelchair swing for the local school.  Did we mention, she doesn't use a wheelchair?

Her parents and other volunteers are putting on a haunted house to try and raise the funds, so far they haven't covered their expenses.  Help them out!  It's for a great cause and a great kid, apparently.

Kennedi Baker wants to buy a wheelchair-accessible swing and is eager to scare people into helping her at the Chamber of Chillz.

“In the summer, swinging is one of my favorite things,” the 8-year-old said. “Everybody should be able to swing.”

But the swing Kennedi wants to put on the playground at Shady Grove Elementary in Keller isn’t for her. 
Shopping for a replacement for one that broke in her back yard, the able-bodied girl came across a picture of a wheelchair-accessible model and began to cry, said her mom, Sherri Baker.

“She realized what it was for,” Baker said. “Then she said all kids deserve to feel what it’s like to swing.”
With help from the school’s principal and assistant principal, Kennedi got approval from the Keller school district to use the district’s vendors to buy the swing and get it installed. But because it was her idea, the girl didn’t want the district to foot the $16,000 bill.

Read more in the Star-Telegram's Keller haunted house chillz to the bone article.

Lee Wrights Announces Bid For Governor In Grapevine on November 2

(Grapevine, Texas) Lee Wrights For Texas Governor has scheduled an official announcement dinner in Grapevine, Texas on Saturday, November 2, starting at 7:00 PM at Love & War in Texas in the Governor's Suite Room. “We're very excited to kick off our campaign in the Dallas-Fort Worth area where we have a solid base of support and look forward to meeting many freedom loving friends”, said Thomas Hill, Campaign Manager for Wrights. “This dinner and fundraiser is a part of of 'Battle of Concepcion Money Blast', a fundraising effort commemorating the first major battle of the Texas Revolution. That it will be held at Love & War in Texas in the Governor's Suite is very fitting.”

Lee Wrights is a longtime activist, writer and editor living in Burnet Texas. He is the president of the Foundation For A Free Society. Wrights also serves as Vice Chair of the Libertarian National Committee. This isn't Wrights' first foray into 'top of the ticket' campaigns as he finished second to Governor Gary Johnson for the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination in 2012. He cheerfully supported the Johnson/Gray ticket and continued his successful Million Vote March project. Wrights also managed Dr. Mary J. Ruwart’s 2008 presidential campaign, finishing a very close second to Bob Barr after an exciting six-ballot slugfest at the Libertarian national convention in Denver.

The event will kick off at 7:00 PM, with Wrights and other Libertarian candidates meeting attendees and discussing – one on one - their key concerns about the direction of the state. At approximately 7:30, a few candidates will have an opportunity to introduce themselves and briefly discuss their races. After those speeches, Lee will announce his candidacy and present his libertarian solutions for many of Texas' most pressing problems, while contrasting those solutions with the status-quo offered by other candidates. “We're honored that Mr. Wrights chose Tarrant County to announce his candidacy”, says Allen Patterson, Tarrant County Libertarian Party Chair, adding, “He's been a strong voice for peace, prosperity and individual liberty and we're looking forward to a packed house of enthusiastic supporters!”

Admission is free. Those interested in attending may RSVP for the event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/208304299351327/ and donations are welcome here: http://leewrights.nationbuilder.com/ and at the event! Love & War In Texas is located at 2505 E Grapevine Mills Circle, Grapevine TX 76051

Voting on Propositions in Texas

You'll notice Proposition 6 got a No vote from all the Grassroots groups polled.

That should tell you something.  It should tell you a lot.

YOU can't afford it.

THE GRASSROOTS TEXANS NETWORK
2013 CONSTITUTIONAL ELECTION VOTERS' GUIDE

As you may know, there's election going on in Texas RIGHT NOW.  You can vote between now and November 5, 2013.

There are nine constitutional amendments on the ballot, and there are thousands of opinions, pro and con, on each one.  In the interest of helping to sort out and help Texas grassroots activists made heads or tails out of all of this, Grassroots Texans has collected opinions from various Texas conservative / pro-liberty groups and summarized them below.*  The last column represents Grassroots Texans' "gut feel" as to the consensus--if any--among the groups.   Propositions 2 and 6 were unanimous among the groups.  For Propositions 3, 4 and 5, there was too much diversity of opinion to reasonably say there was a "consensus."

As seen above, the conservative groups we looked at were UNANIMOUSLY in opposition to Proposition 6, which would, if passed, pull 2 Billion dollars out of the Texas Rainy Day Fund.

The full recommendations summarized in the table above can be found at the following links:

Empower Texans / TFR Recommendations

Texas Patriots' PAC Recommendations

Hardhatters.com Recommendations

Clear Lake Tea Party Voters' Guide

Grassroots America We the People Voters' Guide

We Texans Recommendations

Libertarian Party of Texas Consensus

We hope this is helpful.  As with all important decisions, we urge all Texas patriots to fully inform themselves and make informed, well-reasoned decisions.

* - The LPT made official recommendations with respect to Propositions 2, 6 and 9 only.

Tell the Texas Watercrat's - Hell No

Prop 6 is a joke.  Almost as funny as the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Seems TURF and Empower Texans aren't the only ones using TRWD as an example.

Prop 6 isn't about water, it's about money, and you don't have to look any farther than Tarrant County to see it.

Vote no.  Vote Hell no.

Texas Toll roads = Junk

Just because you build it, doesn't mean they'll come.  If you charge people to drive on a road their taxes already paid for, they'll find another way around.

Looks like the boycott worked.

Texas’ first foreign-owned toll road financed through a controversial public private partnership just got downgraded to junk bond status by Moody’s Investors Service. The Spain-based firm, Cintra (65% ownership), and San Antonio-based Zachry (35% ownership), known as SH 130 Concession Company opened the southern leg of State Highway 130 last November.

Concerned citizens with Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF) immediately launched a boycott of SH 130. Since then, the anemically low traffic levels signaled trouble from the beginning and Moody’s downgraded the concession company’s rating in April warning of the risk of default. The downgrade this week warns of default unless the company can restructure its debt or attract a substantial increase in traffic.

Just Say No.

Early voting is getting underway and if you're still trying to decide, vote NO on Prop 6.  If you need another reason why, just read this article, where they use the Tarrant Regional Water District as an example...(by the way, TRWD, that's not a good thing!)

Look no further than the Tarrant Regional Water District subsidiary’s recent approval of an outdoor ice rink, and there’s enough to make voters skeptical. The funding is not tied to actual water production or adding capacity, which is what Texas desperately needs, not taxpayer-financed ice rinks nor stealing from rural farmers to shift water from one to another, allowing government under the thumb of special interests to pick the winners and losers.

Well, well, well

Seems like all those wells weren't what they were cracked up to be.  And when the industry rolled in town and promised the moon, they were just kidding.  Remember when the industry owned the Forth of July?  And Christmas? And the libraries?  And the politicians?

Yeah, well, that's over and Fort Worth has decided to jump on the Chesapeake suing bandwagon.  Mayor Price says they don't want to but they owe it to taxpayers.

They owe a lot more than that to taxpayers.  If they really wanted to "protect the taxpayers", they would have done their due diligence before selling off their land, air and water to make a dollar.  Oh, wait, now it's 50 cents...

Read the bare bones in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Then pay attention at election time.  It's costing you a fortune not to.

Mayor Betsy Price said the city was prompted to investigate their dealings with Chesapeake after several other entities, including other cities, filed lawsuits against the Oklahoma-based corporation. 

She said the city did not want to press through with a lawsuit, but that the officials have a duty to the taxpayers. 

A federal lawsuit against Chesapeake was filed in March by Tarrant County landowners, including Ed Bass and Trinity Valley School, citing similar problems. 

WHY is it....

That citizens and newscasters have to call out government employees on their spending?

This story reminds us of the Becky Oliver/TRWD spending fiasco newstory a few years ago.

This one if from CBS, Empower Texans and the city of Fort Worth.  Wait till you see what they spend on liquor.