Don’t let the government hide this information from you

What is your government trying to hide from you?

This isn’t a conspiracy theory. Your government – people you know and have elected to office – want to hide things from you. Every biennium the Texas Legislature considers bills to take away the requirements of publishing public notices in local newspapers. This session is no different, but lawmakers have taken a different tack. Rather than try to eliminate the requirement completely and move everything online to some obscure government-run website, they are chipping away at the law. What is most alarming is they are doing it in a way that will help protect scofflaws and deadbeats.

This session the charge is being led by Sen. Joan Huffman, a Republican from the southwest side of Houston. Huffman is someone I used to cover when I was at the Fort Bend Star. Actually, I only met her a couple times as she keeps a very low profile for an elected official. (By contrast, I saw Sen. Lois Kolkhorst several times and only half of Fort Bend County is on the outer edge of her district.)

Huffman introduced Senate Bill 891, which would create the website where public notices would go and also move what is commonly known as legal notices to that website and take them away from newspapers. These legal notices are not the ones that local governments are required to publish, but the last-resort notices when authorities are trying to serve legal papers for things like tax lien foreclosures, child custody lawsuits, and other civil matters.

The whole purpose of publishing these notices is to bring attention to them. The idea is to enlist the public’s help in finding these people, many of whom don’t want to be found. By hiding these notices on a website and taking them out of public view defeats the purpose of having them in the first place. This only helps those trying to shirk their responsibilities evade detection.

In a recent committee hearing on the bill, Huffman proposed creating a hybrid system of publication using the website and newspapers but capping the cost of publication at $200 for larger notices. This is also a bad idea because in some cases $200 doesn’t cover the cost of publication. It also ads a level of government control over the free press by dictating newspaper advertising rates.

Although Huffman’s bill is bad enough, it also opens the door for the Legislature to swoop in two years from now and take away public notices altogether. They’ll argue that they already have a website up and running and use that to justify the removal of published public notices. This is a bad thing on many levels.

First of all, this puts government in charge of public notices. It takes away public scrutiny. It is a slippery slope that leans away from the state’s sunshine laws. Do you really want the fox in charge of the henhouse? Neither do we.

Secondly, it removes these government actions from open public inspection. It takes them away from the eyes of the watchdogs (the press) as well as you, the public. Instead of having public information delivered to you, they want to make you go and find it. This ultimately leads to more secrecy in government and reduced accountability of elected public officials.

I know that there are some of you who are thinking that the only reason newspapers are fighting for public notices is for financial reasons. There is some truth to that, but just a little. It’s no secret that the newspaper industry is undergoing rapid change in the digital world. We do depend on revenues from public notices. If that revenue stream dries up, so does our ability to keep eyes on government, which we suspect is what some elected officials want. Anything they can do to weaken the power of the press gives them a freer rein with your tax dollars and your rights.

This bill by Huffman only serves to hide and protect those who are trying to do wrong. It’s a stepping stone to limiting the freedom of the press. It may be good for government but it’s bad for the governed. We urge you to contact Huffman and the other legislators and let them know you’re against HB 891 and any other attempt to take away public scrutiny of government actions.

Huffman can be reached at 512-463-0117 or Joan.Huffman@senate.texas.gov. Lois Kolkhorst, our senator, can be reached at 512-463-0118 or lois.kolkhorst@senate.texas.gov.

From out of the past, Southern returns as editor of the Sealy News

When last we met in 2016, I was writing about inspiration I drew from Ricky Padilla, who was a kindergartner battling brain cancer.

In his short life with an even shorter prospect for survival, he got to meet the Pope and was twice blessed by the pontiff. He did a lot of things that made life worth living for a 5-year-old. That was my launching point to say that I, too, was moving on to new adventures. After two years and two months at the Sealy News, I left to take a similar position as editor of the Fort Bend Star.

Three years later I’m still in pursuit of newer and better opportunities and I have found one by returning to the Sealy News. As of April 10, I am once again the managing editor of the newspaper. In the brief time that I’ve been back I have been swirling with mixed emotions. I loved my job at the Star and was very reluctant to leave. At the same time, I loved my job in Sealy and when the Sealy News made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, I had to take it. I will still be covering professional sports for the Star and will be introducing some of that coverage here in the News, specifically the Sugar Land Skeeters minor league baseball team.

I realize that Sugar Land is a bit of a haul from Sealy and minor league baseball has only so much appeal, but there are a lot of things going on with the defending Atlantic League champions this season and I think there are more than a few of you out there who will be excited about it. They’ve got the makings of another championship team, including the additions of some former Major Leaguers such as James Loney, Ryan Schimpf, and pitcher Mark Lowe.

At Constellation Field you can expect some awesome giveaways and concerts on the weekends plus some fun games, skits, and activities taking place between innings. The Atlantic League has a new agreement with Major League Baseball and they are testing new rules and technology. I’ll tell you more about that in the weeks to come. Just save April 25 on your calendar. That’s Opening Day and they’re giving away replica championship rings.

As for being back in Sealy, it’s kind of surreal. As much as things are the same they’re also different. There are several new businesses in town, so I’ve got some exploring to do. Here in our office, the only person that was here three years ago is Karen Lopez, our publisher. I’m getting to know a new staff and a lot of new ways of doing things. The paper here is a lot more technologically advanced than it was when I left and I’ve had a whirlwind of introduction to techy things my millennial colleagues snap right up. I’m finding a lot of my conversations involve the words “how do I…”

Most of the handful of people that I’ve encountered since returning haven’t really recognized me. Being gone three years will do that. So does a radical change in appearance. I currently have a mustache, goatee, and long sideburns, all colored a dark brown. That will change after April 21. You see, I have joined the Texas Army, the 1836 ceremonial re-enactment group that does battle re-enactments each year at various historical sites from the Alamo to San Jacinto and beyond.

I grew the scruff and let my hair go so I would better look the part for the re-enactment season that basically runs from late February through April. Although the recent tank fires in Houston resulted in the cancellation of the San Jacinto re-enactment along with the annual San Jacinto Day commemoration on the April 21 anniversary, will still keep the scruffy look until after that day.

The Texas Army will hold a San Jacinto Day ceremony at George Ranch Historical Park in Richmond. It’s going to be a private ceremony as the park is closed on Sundays. The Texas Army does not want an anniversary to pass without proper commemoration. Additionally, there will be a ceremony where I and one other will be made full colonels in the Army. To qualify, you must attend a certain number of events and also prove your marksmanship with a muzzleloader. I’ve met my qualifications and will receive a certificate signed by Gov. Greg Abbott.

There is so much going on and so much to learn and do right now that it’s hard to keep up with it all. As I mentioned earlier, we need to take advantage of our opportunities when we get them. I’m taking advantage of this one. And one of the first things I’d like to do is follow-up with little Ricky. If anyone knows what’s become of him, I’d really like to know.

Get ready for a lot of fun and excitement in the next few weeks

So many times I begin writing my column with a blank page and an equally blank mind.
Today I stare at this page and a million topics want to spread across it like so much spilled coffee. There are so many things I want to say and only so many words left to use before I reach my limit. Without knowing where to start, I’ll just dive right in.
On a personal front there are many, many wonderful things going on. I’m bubbling with pride for my middle son, Luke. He will graduate from Terry High School this year. Although we’re still not sure what this summer and fall will bring for him, we do know he wants to be an auto mechanic. In the meantime, he has been hired by the Sugar Land Skeeters to work on their game day staff. I doubt he knows this, but he’s actually following in my footsteps in this regard. Back in 1996, I had a brief stint as a ticket-taker for the Colorado Rockies. It really is a fun job and a great opportunity for Luke.
Another thing that Luke and I will be doing together this summer is going on a short-term mission trip to Honduras with the rest of the high school seniors at First Colony Church of Christ. We’re really excited about it– not only for the adventure of visiting another country, but also for the opportunity to see and participate in what God is doing there through an organization called Mission Lazarus. We will be doing some construction projects as well as service outreach programs.
If you’ll allow me a moment for a small fundraising pitch, our church is holding a missions dinner and auction at the church on Sunday, April 28. If you’d like to attend or make a donation, you can do so by visiting www.firstcolonychurch.org/missions-dinner-tickets.
Getting back to the Skeeters, next week our annual Skeeters Season Preview edition comes out. Having been working on it off and on for the last few weeks has only fueled my enthusiasm for the team and this upcoming season. We have right here at Constellation Field the reigning champions of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball!
The offseason has been exceptionally busy for the Skeeters. In December, team President and General Manager Jay Miller resigned to take a similar job in Wichita, Kansas. That led to the promotion of Tyler Stamm to the general manager position and the hiring of Chris Hill as the president. Hill was the vice president during the formation of the team through the inaugural season in 2012.
Manager Pete Incaviglia has been busy building on a solid foundation to make a team that should be even better than last year’s championship squad. Highlighting the offseason acquisitions is 11-year Major League veteran James Loney.
Loney, 34, was a first-round draft pick (19th overall) in 2002 out of Elkins High School by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He spent seven of his 11 Major League seasons with the Dodgers, and also appeared with the Boston Red Sox (2012), Tampa Bay Rays (2013-15) and New York Mets (2016).
Returning to the Skeeters from last year are Albert Cordero, Alvaro Rondon, Anthony Giansanti, Mitch Talbot, Dallas Beeler, Matt West, and Konner Wade. Former Skeeters returning include Josh Prince and Roy Merritt. I could go on, but I want to save something for the special section.
The bottom line is this club is loaded with talent. The organization is also loaded with fun events and giveaways that are sure to be huge attractions this year. You’ll just have to read about it next week. Trust me, April 25 can’t get here soon enough!
Another thing that can’t get here soon enough is “Avengers: Endgame.” It opens in theaters on the day after the Skeeters’ opening day, so it’ll have to wait. The fourth Avengers movie (actually fifth because “Captain America: Civil War” was essentially an Avengers movie) is supposed to resolve the cliffhanger from “Avengers: Infinity War” which ended (spoiler alert!) with the deaths of half the Avengers and half of all life in the universe when the mad titan Thanos gathered all the infinity stones and snapped his fingers.
This kind of leads into Compicpalooza on May 10-12 in Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Although celebrity guests are still being announced, we already know that Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Solo: A Star Wars Story), Grant Gustin (The Flash), Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones), and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” stars Gates McFadden and Michael Dorn are among many guests already announced.
As of this writing, no Avengers stars or actors from “Star Wars: Episode IX” have been announced, but I suspect that will change soon.
That reminds me, I will have to put off seeing the Avengers a little longer than I like because I will be one of the celebrity spaghetti sauce judges on April 26 at the Exchange Club of Sugar Land’s 32nd Annual Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser. It will be held from 5:30-8 p.m. in the Fluor Corporation cafeteria. The fundraiser supports local nonprofit organizations including Child Advocates of Fort Bend, Fort Bend County Women’s Center, Texana Center for Autistic Children, Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels, Fort Bend Council on Substance Abuse, Crime Stoppers, YMCA, ESCAPE Family Resource Center, Literacy Council of Fort Bend and many others. It also supports Exchange Cooperative Community Service Projects like Santa’s Exchange.
This year there will be nine local law enforcement agencies and firefighter teams competing in the Spaghetti Sauce Cook-off. My fellow judges include Patti Kaminski from Fort Bend Focus and Minerva Perez of Latina Voices and formerly of Channel 13.
Tickets and raffle tickets are available online at www.eventbrite.com/e/exchange-club-of-sugar-land-annual-spaghetti-fundraiser-tickets-58546982601, and from Carlos Perez at 281-923-4900 or any Exchange Club member. Tickets are also available from event sponsor Classic Chevrolet.
As you can see, there is a lot going on in the coming weeks. There is one other big thing happening this week, and, by the time you read this, will have already happened. I have accepted a job as the editor of the Sealy News and April 10 will be my first day there. I will continue to work as a sports stringer for the Fort Bend Star but my full-time employment will be back where I came from. I was with the Sealy News for two years before joining the Star three years ago.
This is not a reflection on my love for this community and the people that I work with. Sealy simply made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. It was one of the most gut-wrenching career decisions of my life. I love it here at the Star and my heart says stay, but the economics dictate a new direction. I don’t know what the future will hold, but the door is wide open for a return to the Star someday if that’s in God’s plan for me. Sealy is a great community and the staff at the Sealy News are fun, wonderful people and I look forward to this new adventure.
In the meantime, I’ll still be around, most likely at Constellation Field covering the Skeeters and living the dream. Y’all feel free to come by and say hi, both to me and that tall kid with the long, red hair taking tickets and checking bags.
This, my friends, brings me to the end of my space on this page and my time at the Star. Hopefully our paths will cross again. Until then, may God bless you always!

Stafford’s mayor takes a dump on Grid development

Stafford Mayor Leonard Scarcella comments about
the Grid development following a presentation by
the developer last Thursday at the Fort Bend Chamber
of Commerce. (Photo by Joe Southern)

Let me say up front that I debated a long time whether or not to write this column. 

I do not believe in tearing people down or talking negatively about anyone. I cannot in good conscience, however, let what happened the morning of March 28 go unquestioned.

I was at the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce for a breakfast presentation on the Grid development at the old Texas Instruments site in Stafford. I thought the presentation was excellent and I’m very excited about what is being built across the ditch from our office on Bluebonnet Drive. Brian Murphy of StreetLevel Investments gave a very energizing presentation about the 192-acre mixed-use development.

Unfortunately, right after Murphy’s presentation, Stafford Mayor Leonard Scarcella stood up and took a proverbial crap all over it. It was rude, unnecessary, and very embarrassing. 

“I commend the Grid and StreetLevel for doing this project in Stafford. I want to say unequivocally, we want it to be a success, but I will tell you we have reservations,” he said.

Let’s examine that a minute. In one breath he is saying he wants it to succeed but he doubts it. Don’t be mistaken by his use of the word “we.” He is speaking for himself and not the city council. From everything I’ve read and heard, the rest of the council has been behind the project from the start. Scarcella has been the main naysayer.

Stating that “the Grid was behind schedule and it was over budget,” Scarcella went on to express his doubts that the project could be completed on time and implied financial ruin for the city as a result.

“The simple fact of it is we have a 10-year contract with StreetLevel that took a long time to negotiate. It was signed on April 11 of last year. The problem with it is it simply has a schedule in it that is unobtainable. It basically said they would develop basically all of this you’ve seen up there within three years and be completed by the end of 2021… It won’t work and I’ve tried to tell everyone that it won’t work and now it’s coming clear that it won’t. It’s a 10-year contract. It’s not something that’s going to be done in three years, it’s going to take the full 10 years,” he said.

On this point Scarcella is partly correct. It’s going to take longer than three years to complete. There is no way, barring the unforeseen, that the project will take the full 10 years to complete. My office is across a ditch from Grid and in the last year I’ve been watching it grow at a phenomenal pace. The delays that have the project behind schedule are related to the weather, which no one can control, and to Scarcella himself. To his credit he helped negotiate a public-private agreement between the city and StreetLevel that is very much in the city’s favor. The length of those negotiations, however, cost the developer valuable time.

At the chamber presentation, Scarcella went on a five-minute rant that referenced Amazon’s HQ2 debacle in New York City (whatever that has to do with Stafford) and was critical of the types of jobs Grid would bring.

“I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of $150,000 jobs in this one,” he said. “Fortunately, Stafford doesn’t have to be concerned about that. Stafford has 50 percent more people working in Stafford than it does living there. We have about 18,000 people living in Stafford and we have over 30,000 people working in Stafford,” he said. “We’re not trying to generate jobs necessarily but most of the jobs with what you’ve just witnessed are not high-paying jobs.”

Maybe the jobs in general won’t be high-paying jobs, but Scarcella doesn’t know that for a fact. What the development will bring is sales tax, which Stafford thrives on since it does not have a property tax. Since Stafford is not funded by an income tax, this is really a moot point. Having thriving businesses on a large unproductive tract of land is what really matters and Scarcella knows this, or at least he should.

The next point he made was just juvenile and mindboggling.

“You’re going to have within a two-tenths of a square mile area enough residents to control the entire election process of Stafford. You’re going to have 5,000 people added to 18,000 and those will virtually be all voters,” he said.

So what? What does that have to do with anything? All of those new residents are going to be apartment dwellers. By their very nature, people who live in apartment tend to be transient and have no vested interest in their community and therefore have low voting records. That will make their impact minimal at best. What if all 5,000 residents did vote? As long as they’re registered voters, it would be their right. You can’t exclude your citizenry from voting just because of where they live within your city. If you’re not providing the services they need or are being responsive to their concerns, then they have every reasonable right to vote you out of office.

Scarcella also poo-pooed StreetLevel’s claim of Grid making Stafford a point of destination. In his mind a point of destination is a major resort city. He is correct in his belief that Grid will not make Stafford a resort town. He also demonstrates ignorance of what a destination point is. It is a place that attracts visitors. Grid will do that. With many restaurants, retail shops, a movie theater, hotels, and the Drive Shack golf and entertainment center, it will be a local point of destination. This compares to a bedroom community that lacks those amenities where people live but don’t visit.

“That property as shown here is one of the most iconic properties in the entire Houston region without exception,” Scarcella said. “And it is that 192 acres that is six times the size of Town Square in Sugar Land and eight times the size of Center City in Houston.”

Maybe I’m missing something because I’m still fairly new here, but I’ve never heard anyone call the former Texas Instruments site iconic before. Iconic to me means it has outstanding natural features or world-class development. The Texas Instruments facility was not iconic and there is nothing extraordinary about the property other than its great location.

“It is imperative that this development succeed but it’s got a long way to go. It will never meet the expectations and they’re the ones that raised the bar. They’ll never make those expectations,” Scarcella said.

Wow, really? What a tremendous vote of confidence for the biggest and most important project to come to Stafford since the creation of the municipal school district and the elimination of property taxes. If Scarcella truly wants this project to succeed he should be its biggest cheerleader, not its biggest detractor.

I don’t know what his motivation is for dogging the development this way, but I found it to be totally unnecessary and extremely rude. His words don’t sound to me like someone who has his city’s best interests at heart but rather that of someone with a different agenda in mind.

Like I said, I don’t like speaking negatively about Mayor Scarcella. I generally find him to be a decent, respectable man. This, however, was very unbecoming of someone in his position and deserves to be called out.

Follow-up

Last week I wrote about the re-enactments of the Texas Revolution. Due to the ITC fire in Deer Park, the San Jacinto Battleground remains closed. As a result, the festival and re-enactment scheduled there on April 13 has been cancelled. The Runaway Scrape re-enactment at George Ranch Historical Park is still on this Saturday, April 6, and everyone is invited to attend.