Tony Riker from the Texas Municipal Police Association was asked by the Somervell County Sheriff's Office Association to come do a presentation to the Somervell County Commissioners Court on 5/9/2022 specifically about how there are salaries paid within the Sheriff's department that are markedly lower than what other counties pay, and that there is a danger of losing professional employees to areas that pay equitably. Astonishingly, Mr. Riker was treated with arguments from, primarily, Judge Dan
Got to thinking about this the other day because Dwayne Johnson, who is in a runoff for Precinct 2 County Commissioner, came by the house bragging about how the golf course and other businesses are essentially self-paying without using any county money. The idea is that all profits and expenses come, not from line items in the general Somervell County budget, but from the Enterprise fund. In the past, the golf club did not make enough money to run without additional moneys from the general budge
Towards the end of this last year (2021) two things happened. First, Turn and Burn's concession contract was not renewed, and second, Somervell County applied for, first, a private club license with TABC and then Mixed Beverage. The ostensible reason for Somervell County to kick out a private contractor who by Dwayne Johnson's indirect admission below, was making money for the county through concessions, was to help the golf course and other businesses be self-sustaining by running everything ou
As a citizen who is trying to keep up on what is going on, but covid and other factors getting in the way, I wondered about what the fool the Somervell County Special Assistance District is, when it was passed, what it is for, etc. Did some research the last couple of weeks.
First, this special assistance district brings in additional taxes through extra sales taxes levied through businesses and the money is put into a separate county bank account. The sales tax cannot exceed the # set by
In the last couple of months, I was interested to know about a subdivision going in off 144 near the Bosque County line. I called to speak to Tammy, who is not my commissioner, but, frankly, I had no desire to speak to Dwayne Johnson, who is. When I called, the admin for the commissioners told me Tammy was not in. After I hung up, after not asking to speak to Johnson, I was surprised to see him calling me within a few minutes of my call. (I have heard that Johnson's wife works as admin for the c
Apparently one of the changes made by the Texas Lege this last session was to require a posted guard during counting of ballots
But it appears that this was an unfunded mandate, ie, the county must pay for the guard (someone from sheriff's department) but how do they get paid and how much, etc. Interesting discussion.
Thought this was interesting. Allen West presented this to the Somervell County Commissioners Court at the regular meeting on Feb 14 2022. The report shows the racial makeup of all traffic stops, how many where from, say city streets,, or the highway, etc, was there a search, what type of stop was it, etc. Read for yourself, just going to put one stat here from the top of the report
Street address or approximate location of the stop
City Street 430
US Highway 570
County Road
From the Feb 14 2022 Somervell County Commissioners Court meeting. Discussion is about plans for an upcoming street festival and dance. Arrangements are being made with a third party company "Watermark Marketing Boutique" run by Morgan Loper, who apparently lives in Somervell County. Would love to see the contract for this. In the audio, you will hear Danny Chambers asking about where the money comes from and Harris says CVB. Also, the people who do fundraising for non-profits will be voting for
At the Feb 14, 2022 Somervell County Commissioners Court had item 12: County Judge: Commissioner, Precinct 4: Discuss/Take Action on First Look Vista Ridge Ranch Subdivision. Appears that Brazos Partners LLC sold land to Vista Ridge Ranch, LLC, specifically 282.026 acres of land on the southeast corner of FM 199 and Hwy 67.
Wade Busch is commissioner of Precinct 4
Although these are unofficial documents, I am a little amused at how sloppy the filing is, hopefull
Had heard there was a huge subdivision with smaller lots going in off 144 and CR 2008. It was first discussed in a December 2021 County Commissioner meeting and then approved in February 2022. I called up my commissioner Dwayne Johnson to ask some questions, like how many houses (ie, how many people to expect will live there), will there be a road from the subdivision that goes directly to 144 or will everyone be trying to get onto 144 from 2008 (or going the other way past Fossil Rim to 67), wo
Agenda for 4th October 2021
Did they screw it up and not follow the law when they approved the budget AND the HIGHER tax rate on 9/23/2021? Here was the signed motion made after Judge Chambers and the commissioners voted on it.
Apparently so. Brian Watts, former auditor for Somervell County, sent Somervell County Judge Danny Chambers an email on September 27, 2021 that basically accuses Danny Chambers and Dwayne Johnson, Somervell County Commissioner for Precinct 2, of hubris and v
I live on a rural county road with a long driveway. I do not want packages that don't fit in our large mailbox to be left along the road, along the driveway or anywhere, basically, but the front porch. Most of the time the delivery services do this, which is most appreciated. If they don't, I like to know the delivery service so I can call them and request that the packages be left at the door. I assume that maybe the person delivering is new, or a fill-in contractor, etc. I've had the same wond
Have said before that I had geese, ducks, chickens, and guineas for some years. And loved them, although having them caused a few problems along the way, even though living in a rural area. More specifically, what I have wanted to do is fix up the front yard for some time, including flowers. The geese would come along and eat virtually any flower I attempted to grow, so I pretty much quit worrying about it while I had them. Also having a grassy lawn was an impossibility, and I don't miss it any
Saw an interesting article in the Dallas Observer this morning, in which the Collin College board of trustees discussed not allowing "Anger, obscene or profane language, ridicule, personal attacks, and disruptive conduct are not acceptable behavior during the public comment period"
Up for discussion is whether a body should have rules of decorum that prevent personal attacks and disruptive conduct (would you want a person dressed like a Nazi parading around in front of the dais? , at leas
Oakdale Park was originally owned, as a private park, by Whimp and Pete May. I was asked by Karen Richardson to come record an interview Mary Saltarelli was doing with them in 2011. This is the video. The City of Glen Rose, in 2009, bought Oakdale Park from them. As seen in the link above, the City, in 2019 had a town hall meeting to discuss potential sale of Oakdale Park. The election in Nov 2019 had Glen Rose city voters allowing the sale of Oakdale Park and it is again in private hands.
The Riverwalk was included as a way to get a 11b Sales Tax passed; went out for a vote to the Glen Rose community and passed. I had gone down in 2007 with the committee members to look at what actually was being proposed and then, in 2010, went out and looked at the finished River Walk. That is this video that I recorded
Actually have not been down there in a few years, may take down the camera and see how it looks now as a comparison. One year, for example, there was some major f
Back in 2009, Morris Bussey, who has the Fossil Hunter enterprise, asked me if I'd like to come record a presentation about Panther Cave. Some people had won a trip to see it in a raffle, and I had never been, so I was excited to go. Ken Frye did the presentation and dressed in period clothing. The cave is on private property, so it was an added thrill to see where a family years ago lived in a cave and were visited by a panther.
Here are the 2 videos I recorded
I wrote about 2019 (November) as the year I quit keeping birds.
Who knew at the time that 2020 would turn out to be a year of pandemic. For me, it made me want to go nowhere, including the hardware store. In 2021, particularly starting in the spring when the promise of vaccines made it a lot safer to go out, I turned my attention to how I would plan the yard. As noted before, when I had birds for so many years, and they roamed the property, some would fall prey over time to predators,
When I first came to Somervell County back over 20 years ago, I walked the property I was fixing to buy with a neighbor from across the street. He told me he had walked over all the lots then currently for sale, and had decided on his across the road, largely because it was downhill and had some impressive large oaks. For the property I wanted, it was and is on a hill, lots of fossils and rocks, and some woods. I liked it because it had so many different landscaping features. I figured I could f
I was so pleased to read of this man, Willie Hudspeth, who spent around 21 years protesting the Confederate monument that was on the Denton County courthouse lawn. His tireless protest, carried out almost every Sunday, finally led in June 2020 to the monument being removed. Denton County Commissioners Court voted to remove it on June 9, with the Texas Historical Commission''s later approval, and then the removal was done early in the morning, with little notice. Statue was taken to storage. Fro
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Back in 2006, the statue that sits downtown on the Somervell County courthouse lawn was dedicated. Robert Summers created the statue, which commemorates the story of George and Charles Barnard and Juana Cavasos. I went down there, video recorded the goings on and made a compilation video of it. I like to show crowd shots rather than just the dignitaries at the gazebo; first part is more atmospheric, second part includes Walter Maynard, then Somervell County Judge and Bob Summers, James Ba