Loss of Knowledge About U.S. History

Less than one-third of the colleges and universities in the United States annually ranked as the country’s best schools require students pursuing a degree in history to take a single course in American history. This finding comes from a shocking new report issued by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA).No U.S. History

 "In 2012, 2014, and 2015, ACTA commissioned the research firm GfK to survey college graduates’ knowledge of American history. ACTA sees the same dispiriting results each time: 

• Less than 20% could accurately identify—in a multiple-choice survey—the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation. 

• Less than half could identify George Washington as the American general at Yorktown. 

• Only 42% placed the Battle of the Bulge in the history of World War II.

• One-third of college graduates were unaware that FDR introduced the New Deal.

• Nearly half did not know that Teddy Roosevelt played a major role in constructing the Panama Canal. 

• Over one-third of the college graduates surveyed could not place the American Civil War in its correct 20-year time frame.

• Nearly half of the college graduates could not identify correctly the term lengths of U.S. senators and representatives."

Without a firm knowledge of the history of the founding of this republic, graduating young adults will not have the foundation to protect the morals and principles on which this country was established and we can expect to see a continuing deterioration of the fabric and institutions of the United States of America.

At least the University of Texas still requires a course in U.S. History for history majors to graduate with a degree in history. 

Guest Post on WILCO Commissioners Court

3 minutes at Commissioner Court Mtg  7 June 2016

I am Bill Kelberlau from Williamson County. I am a 6^th generation Texan.   I am a retired Navy CAPTAIN with over 25 years of active and reserve duty, and a decorated war veteran. For those who do not know, a Navy CAPTAIN is the same as a full bird Colonel. I am also retired from industry, GTE, Texas Instruments, and Raytheon in many areas of management, engineering and customer service. I have been a part of Williamson County for over 37 years.

I have some comments on several items from the Comm Court Mtg  17 May 2016.

First, that same week Thursday the 19^th I had to turn around don't drown on the way out of my subdivision. As I stood watching the water I discussed with one of my neighbors items 25 & 26 which was followed by Item 22 being lumped in with a group of infrastructure items and quickly passed. CC made quick work of supporting a major corporation's profitability with WilCo citizens tax dollars by reprogramming 2013 bond money. Yet after more than 35 years WilCo has yet to spend a fraction of  $1.5 million it gave to the UPS project and make a decision regarding citizen safety.

Agenda items and discussion continued into other subjects where in many items  had in common the issue of how decisions are made and policy and procedures that should be addressed to improve the decision and management processes within WilCo.

The county atty addressing purchasing contracts and issues was asked what is the historical review process for purchasing contracts and his response was, “all over the map.”  What?   There is no formal process that connects the dots between multitudes of contracts and assesses the potential cumulative risks and or compounding liabilities being incurred?  Is it safe to assume that since there is no evaluation of these risks there is also no risk management process in place?

Commissioner Long made a comment about taking a more in depth look at government relationships with regard to overreach. I applaud this idea. Every time Grant money flows there is a contract.  The last 2-3 pages of each contract is loaded with over reach and or strings attached. However, does WilCo not know the extent or cumulative impact of its risks and liabilities with regard to these hundreds of grants already accepted?

Debt service: NPV analysis is only one analysis to evaluate financial decisions. One must also do future value or future cost analysis to understand the impact of decisions. Citizen's incomes being increased at the 1-2% CPI rate can't afford the continued 10% compounding each year for taxes, insurance, regulatory costs etc that are not part of CPI. State and local debt exceeds national debt and WilCo has the highest per capita debt of all counties in Texas. We can have a good credit rating with a whole lot less debt. What important opportunities are being lost into debt service?

Zero Based Budgeting, Management by Objectives and Priorities, Internal Rate of return, PERT program management, CPM critical path analysis, future cost of not making a decision (dollars, lives), Total Cost of Ownership, technology forecasts and impact, unintended consequences (squeezing the balloon), Analysis of Alternatives, convenience versus doing whats right, Cost Benefit analyses, risk assessment, risk analysis, cost risk Monte Carlo evaluation,  and many more proven management tools.

It appears obvious WilCo is long overdue for implementing 20^th century proven good management principles and decision making processes.

Let's start with Principle.

Is it Constitutional, is it the Truth and Cui Bono, who benefits.

More Federal Government Overreach

The Department of Agriculture plans to adopt rules that require all stores that sell food to increase access to "healthy food".  If stores do not comply with the proposed news rules, they will no longer be authorized to accept food stamps as payment.  This will threaten the very existence of corner and convenience stores.

The WSJ provides in-depth analysis of the proposed rule changes and their effects.

"U.S. regulators are pushing stricter rules for stores that accept food stamps—a proposal that could determine which retailers win and lose the billions of taxpayer dollars at stake.

The overhaul of the $74 billion Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, would hurt convenience stores and pharmacies like 7-Eleven Inc. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., while it could benefit giants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kroger Co.

By year end, the U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to adopt rules that require stores redeeming food stamps to stock a wider variety of meats and vegetables and sell fewer hot meals, like pizza. The aim is to increase access to healthy food for low-income people. But the Obama administration’s latest effort to influence eating habits—following an effective ban on trans fats and a requirement to disclose added sugar on nutrition labels—has prompted a showdown with Congress.

Going further, the USDA’s proposal bars retailers from SNAP if they receive more than 15% of their sales from hot food, or if a fast-food chain, like KFC or Subway, operates under the same roof.

7-Eleven said many of its 8,000 U.S. locations would be kicked out, based on hot food sales. Mark Guest, who owns three 7-Eleven stores in New England said, “If my store is no longer SNAP-authorized, our revenues will decline substantially...our customers will spend their cash elsewhere.”

Wawa Inc. said its 700 convenience stores would stop accepting SNAP because of hot food sales, causing it to lose 7 million transactions a year."

These proposed rule changes would impact small businesses in Georgetown as well as the Georgetown consumer.  Some businesses would likely not survive and consumers would have to change their buying habits to patronize the big stores where convenience and quick service is not valued.

Pension Funds Getting Out of Hedge Funds

While the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) is increasing its investment in Hedge funds and Private Equity funds, other pension funds are reducing their investments because of high fees and opaqueness in their reporting of expenses. The front page story in the WSJ describes how the American Federation of Teachers advocates divesting teachers pension investments in Hedge funds.  In fact, many pension funds have already reduced their investments.

Similar actions are taking place with respect to Private Equity funds because of the high expenses which are usually hidden from pension managers.  For example, one Private Equity fund with twenty employees and three private jets, purchased a company and told the newly purchased company to pay for all the costs of the private jet aircraft.  These costs were then charged off as expenses and subtracted from the net income reported to the pension fund.

This is definitely not the kind of investments that Georgetown's pensions should be invested in.

Breaking News - 6 Months Late!

Did you know that our cable TV/phone/internet operator was sold to a foreign company six months ago?  Yes it is true.  Suddenlink was purchased by Altice NV.  Did you see that on the local news?

You may have or soon will see the effects of the sale on customer service.  The new owner is focused on reducing costs at every level.  What does that mean?  It means fewer staff to answer the phone, correct problems, etc.  According to the WSJ, the management has created an investment committee that reviews and questions every expense, no matter how small.

"At Suddenlink, Altice created an authoritarian investment committee that scrutinizes every expense in hourslong meetings each week, as it does with all of its takeovers and will do with Cablevision. The goal is to use Altice’s global clout to negotiate better deals with suppliers.

“It creates consternation for about two months,” Mr. Goei said. “Then people realize, ‘Boy, I really don’t want to go to the investment committee. We just got 500 printers a year ago; we can probably extend their life one more year.’”

At Suddenlink, Altice didn’t announce job cuts when the deal closed. Instead, workers have exited in threes and fours each week as Altice has created new teams, contributing to what one former Suddenlink employee called a “culture of fear.” An Altice spokesman said the departures represented normal churn."

Welcome to the new globalism!

Keep HUD Affordable Housing Out of Georgetown

Affordable housing as defined by HUD, means HUD takes over control of local zoning and builds affordable housing wherever they deem necessary to correct racism.

Here is an ebook/PDF that describes how HUD and the progressives plan to take over local zoning and eliminate/reduce private property rights. Agency Tyranny

The New York Post described the effects of the Affirmatively Furthering Affordable Housing program. New York Post Here is an excerpt describing the effects in Dallas.

"Castro plans to launch the Section 8 reboot this fall, even though a similar program tested a few years ago in Dallas has been blamed for shifting violent crime to affluent neighborhoods.

It’s all part of a grand scheme to forcibly desegregate inner cities and integrate the outer suburbs.

Now Dallas has one of the highest murder rates in the nation, and recently had to call in state troopers to help police control it. For the first time, violent crime has shifted to the tony bedroom communities north of the city. Three suburbs that have seen the most Section 8 transfers — Frisco, Plano and McKinney — have suffered unprecedented spikes in rapes, assaults and break-ins, including home invasions."

Our City Council needs to reject all HUD money so that we are not coerced into giving up our local zoning authority.

Read the ebook referenced above to really open your eyes to the objectives and effects of the progressives attacks on our private property rights.

Crowded City Council Agenda for Tuesday, June, 28, 2016

There are a number of controversial issues on the Council agenda tomorrow night.  Be there if you are interested in any of the issues and speak your piece, it's your city! City Council Agenda

1.  The council will hear the staff recommendation that Apache Lane remain open between Woodland Park and Sun City.

2.  Consideration and possible action to approve a Resolution documenting the City of Georgetown’s support and acceptance of grant TxDOT CSJ NO.: 1514GRGTNAirport Project Participation Agreement in the amount of $7,905,950 for Improvements at the Georgetown Municipal Airport

3.  Rezoning and Special Use Permit requests for affordable housing.

Councilman Steve Fought has some excellent thoughts on the affordable housing issue published in his newsletter. Here is an excerpt:

"After considerable discussion with readers of the newsletter, and doing some further exploration on the topic. I reached the conclusion that the whole area of "Affordable Housing" needed to be broken into three parts, based on the differing needs of the target populations. I also asked that the Council be given time to structure some guidance to the Staff before we moved ahead.  The three partitions, and my suggested guidance, follow:

Senior Housing.  Our demographics dictate that we should work in partnership with the private sector to provide more senior housing, especially Assisted Living, Nursing Care, and Hospice facilities.  

Workforce Housing.  I believe the City has a responsibility to pay a reasonable wage and to take other actions to stimulate housing in the general proximity of Georgetown for those whom we employ.  This would include all members of the City Staff, our Utilities Company, and of course our Public Safety employees (Police, Fire and EMS).  By the same token I believe we have a responsibility to the companies we recruit and seek to retain as part of our economic development plan to establish policies, incentives, etc., so that their employees can also live within a reasonable proximity of Georgetown.

Low and Very Low Income Housing.  I believe this is a regional issue.  Georgetown has a responsibility to play a fair-share role, along with Williamson County and neighboring towns to address it.

The reason I proposed these partitions was that, while the general term "affordable housing" is being applied across the board, the needs and circumstances of individual groups within the general target population differ significantly --- to the point that the remedies for each population are so different that a universal approach for the aggregated population is unlikely to be achievable or, if achieved, unlikely to produce desirable results.

The Council has not yet had the opportunity to discuss this issue and offer guidance to the staff.  However, the Council did authorize the Housing Advisory Board to initiate a study in order to provide recommendations that might focus the Council's debate.  That study is not yet complete.  

Nonetheless Pedcor (Live-Oak) and Merritt Heritage are on the Council agenda for 28 June requesting approval of their multi-family projects, which in turn would add credence to their request to receive a Federal Tax Credit for low income housing.  (Please click here for the council Agenda, then go to Item "M" for Pedcor/Live-Oak and Item "N" for Merritt Heritage.)  

The two items on the Council agenda will be public hearings and First Readings of Ordinances.  I encourage anyone who is interested in these matters, no matter what your view on the projects, to comment.  Letters have been sent to the neighbors of each property (please clickhere to see the sample re-zoning letter and here to see the sample Special Use Permit letter).  

There is a form in the letter which can be submitted to the City Staff. You may also submit comments via e-mail to 

planning@georgetown.org "

Contact your council person if you believe the Council should delay any action until they have the Housing Advisory Board and staff study results.

Woodland Park - Sun City Traffic Kerfluffle Continues

The City Council will hear a staff report tomorrow, June 29, 2016, that says the traffic through Woodland Park from Apache Lane is now within roadway design specifications and they recommend no further action.

Here is the latest traffic count with some commentary.

Even though the average traffic count over four specific days is below the 1,000 cars per day, the trend over time is definitely up and the last data point of 1,093 cars per day exceeds the design requirements for a local road.

Another worrisome issue is the apparent limited data. It is unclear if each day is 24 hours or some lesser time. Four days of traffic counting in 2016, three Tuesdays and one Monday, does not seems sufficient to draw quality conclusions.

Previous studies, February, 4, 2015, are flawed. It claims to show that significant traffic from Woodland Park uses Apache Lane to access Ronald Reagan and points North. A convoluted analysis is used to make that assertion, whereas, no direct measurements were taken before opening of Apache Lane and after opening at the Woodland Park entrances from Williams Drive that would definitely determine how many cars enter and exit Woodland Park exclusively.

This saga is likely not closed and Woodland Park residents have conducted their own traffic count and will likely present it at the workshop or the council meeting tomorrow.

More info here: Workshop and here: City Council

Update on the Update for Officer Hoskins-Brown

"Officer Hoskins-Brown will be back in District Court on June 28th at 9 am. If you believe that this fiasco should end, then it is time to get involved. Show support for her by being there!"

"It will the 277th District Court I believe that it is Judge Morris (a visiting judge)presiding. The address is 405 M.L.K. Street Georgetown, TX 78626. Thank you for your interest in this. "

Georgetown Pension System Report

As usual for government organizations, the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) dumped their Comprehensive Annual Financial Report to the public on Friday afternoon, if you know where to look for it on their website.

Here is the key information:

An investment return of 0.34% on a $23.6B portfolio is nothing to write home about.  That's $91.5M earned on the $23.6B investment in 2015.

Also note that they assume they will earn 6.75% on that investment when in reality they have earned just 5.42% annually over the last 10 years.

According to the TMRS management everything is "lollipops and unicorns" as far as the eye can see when you assume your assets grow at a 6.75% annual rate!

Georgetown's city council needs to be exerting themselves with respect to the investments managed by TMRS and the growth assumptions they use in projecting the required city contributions to the retirement fund.

Update on Officer Hoskins-Brown

A reader provided this update.

"Officer Hoskins-Brown will be back in District Court on June 28th at 9 am. If you believe that this fiasco should end, then it is time to get involved. Show support for her by being there!"

Personal Observations

While spending the weekend in San Angelo celebrating by father's 94th birthday, scanning the local newspaper, The Standard Times, noticed that there was very little locally written content in the local section.

Of approximately 15 articles, only two were written by local paper staff.  Three article were written by the retired Ag editor and the remainder were wire services like the Associated Press or sourced from other newspapers like the Austin Statesman, Texas Tribune, and the San Antonio Express-News.

This shows the sad state of affairs for local newspapers.  The Standard Times is our course not owned locally, but, by some distant corporate entity.

I and others often lament that the Wilco Sun does not cover all the items of local interest that we think it should, but, it does an admirable job considering that Georgetown is one-half the size of San Angelo.

Why Does the Non-Military Government Need Firearms?

Former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma reports today in the WSJ that more than 200,000 non-defense personnel are authorized to make arrests and carry firearms. There are more of these federal officers than there are U.S. Marines (180,000).

"On Friday, June 17, American Transparency, is releasing its OpenTheBooks.com oversight report on the militarization of America. The report catalogs federal purchases of guns, ammunition and military-style equipment by seemingly bureaucratic federal agencies. During a nine-year period through 2014, we found, 67 agencies unaffiliated with the Department of Defense spent $1.48 billion on guns and ammo. Of that total, $335.1 million was spent by agencies traditionally viewed as regulatory or administrative, such as the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Mint."

I used to wonder why the Social Security Office that serviced my community had bullet proof glass protecting the employees and there were armed guards at the door. However, after suffering poor customer service repeatedly, I came to understand that citizens become very frustrated and some might resort to violence.

The growing militarization of the non-defence workforce is a concern. Why do agencies like FDA, EPA, VA, SBA and on and on need their own security forces.  Who are they protecting themselves from? The American taxpayer who pays their salary?  The agencies provide no answers to these questions.

We need to demand that our Federal Legislators stop funding these agencies militarization against us. Contact Senators Cornyn and Cruz, and Congressman Carter to defund these activities.

Georgetown Sales Tax Revenue Up - Bucks State Wide Trend

Georgetown is leading a charmed life with respect to sales tax revenues.  While the State of Texas as a whole is down, Georgetown's sales tax revenue for the last reporting period is up 6.37% compared to the same month last year. Georgetown has received $10,915,630 so far in 2016, which is a 9.28% increase over last year.

Thus, Georgetown has received about $1M more in sales tax revenue this year compared to last year. Is the city going to use this windfall to reduce taxes on the citizens, or, are they quietly going to spend it on some new baubles?  Anyone taking bets?

Obama Poised to Surrender Control of the Internet

Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) introduced the Protecting Internet Freedom Act this past week, which would prevent the Obama administration from giving the Internet away to a global organization that will allow over 160 foreign governments to have increased influence over the management and operation of the Internet.Protect the Internet Freedom Act

The bill would ensure the continued protection of Internet freedom by prohibiting the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) from allowing the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions contract to expire, unless specifically authorized by Congress. The Protecting Internet Freedom Act would also ensure that the United States maintains sole ownership of the .gov and .mil top-level domains, which are vital to national security.

The Obama administration backed a plan submitted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, to free itself in September from the U.S. oversight that has kept the internet open since the 1990s.

The plan gives foreign governments new powers. Authoritarian regimes would gain greater influence over the Icann board, and for the first time governments would have a vote on bylaw changes, removal of the board and the budget. Further analysis may be found in the Wall Street Journal.

Support Senator Cruz in his effort to protect our control and use of the internet.

Is Georgetown and Texas Ready for an EMP Event?

EMPs are bursts of energy that can be caused by a nuclear detonation or a major solar storm directed toward earth.

The WSJ details the threat to America's infrastructure, especially the electrical grid. They chronicle the history of the threat and the abject response of the U.S. government.

"But in April the Government Accountability Office released an alarming account of the bureaucratic dysfunction obstructing EMP mitigation. The GAO determined that although divisions within Homeland Security have been assigned specific tasks, departmental leaders have failed to ensure that this work is carried out. The two departments have not even identified the elements of the electrical infrastructure that most need protecting. Nor have the agencies coordinated strategies to address risks associated with EMPs, including research and development of equipment designed to mitigate damage."

The question for Georgetown is: Does the city have a Emergency Response Plan for the possibility that the City has no electricity for days, weeks or even several months and that the state of Texas has no electricity also?

"The consequences of inaction could be tremendous. In a 2012 article in Space Weather, Pete Riley of Predictive Science put the chances of a major solar storm in the next 10 years as high as 12%."

The City Council needs to task the city staff to develop a Emergency Response Plan to address the possibility of an EMP event.

Planning Commission Overrides Staff and Approves Rezoning for Workforce Housing

As discussed in a June 6, blog post, the developer of the property at 4700 Williams Drive was seeking a change in zoning from commercial to multifamily. The city staff recommended against the proposed zoning change.

This property is one of the three that requested a resolution of support from the city council on February 9, 2016 to facilitate their application for Federal tax credits which are administered and granted by a Texas state board. The council approved the resolution of support at that meeting.

It seems the council has boxed themselves into approving the zoning change when it comes before them, even though it is contrary to one of their goals, namely, support the development of additional commercial property so that the tax burden could be reduced on family residences and picked up by commercial businesses.

If the developer is awarded the Federal tax credits, it will be interesting to see if the council will then approve the zoning change even though it would be against their long range goal of shifting the tax burden toward businesses.

Total U.S. Weekly Rail Traffic Down 17.3% for Week Ending June 4

More evidence that the U.S. economy is slowing down can be found in the reports on rail shipments. Rail Way Age

292 Union Pacific Engines Setting Idle in Arizona

For the week ending June 4, 2016, The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reports total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 455,346 carloads and intermodal units, down 17.3% compared with the same week last year.

For the first 22 weeks of 2016, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 5,274,449 carloads, down 13.7% from the same point last year; and 5,648,851 intermodal units, down 2.1% from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 22 weeks of 2016 was 10,923,300 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 8.1% compared to last year.

As the evidence continues to mount that the economy is slowing, the City Council needs to restrain spending and allow citizens to keep more of their own hard-earned money rather than giving it to the city via taxes and fees.

Texas Sales Tax Revenue Showing Weakness in Texas Economy

The May release of sales tax revenue for Texas indicates a slowdown in the retail economy.  Statewide, sales tax revenues declined 7.1% year over year according to the State Controller.  This is the worst decline since 2010.

Consumers in Texas begin to react:  The stories are now piling up of oil-bust contagion working its way deeper into the overall economy of oil-producing states, including Texas. Unlike some other oil producing states, Texas has a vast and diversified economy. So from the beginning, it was said that this time, the oil bust won’t hurt like it did last time; the pain would be contained in its isolated corner of the economy. But this theory is now falling apart. It comes on top of the weakness of the overall US economy.

Over the past 12 months, collections have dropped 8 times on a year-over-year basis. Total collections for the 12-month period are down 1.8% as shown in the chart.

As the City of Georgetown begins to craft its budget for 2017, Prudence seems the best course.  With a slowing of sales tax revenue indicating a more general slowing of the Texas economy, the city needs to restrict budget growth to no more than inflation plus population growth.

Houston and Dallas Rail Systems Require Heavy Subsidies

Houston’s Metro subsidies come to $112,100,000 in taxpayer support this year. Dallas Area Rapid Transit's (DART) rail system receives $619,960,000 in annual operating subsidies, with local sales tax and the Federal Transit Administration providing the most funding. Rail Subsidies

According to Randal O’Toole, a public transportation expert with the market-oriented Cato Institute:

“Houston has seen a decline in overall [public transit] ridership,” O’Toole told Watchdog. “Buses carried nearly 88 million trips in 2001 before light rail. In 2014, bus plus rail was only 72 million trips.”

“Houston experienced a short-term gain when it first opened its light rail, then lost all of that gain and more. It experienced another short-term gain when it added five more miles of track, but I suspect it will lose that again soon,” O’Toole predicted.

Though Dallas posted ridership gains with the opening of its rail line, “expansions in 2008 and 2011 resulted in no net new ridership,” he said, citing statistics from the National Transit Database and the American Public Transportation Association.

Alternatively, O’Toole suggested, “It is always possible to design a bus system that moves more people, faster, cheaper, more flexibly and safer than light rail. No exceptions.”

Keep LoneStar Rail(LSR) in the barn so that it cannot suck up tax revenue from the citizens of Georgetown that exceeds any possible economic benefit. Preferably, Central Texas citizens should kill LSR and drive a stake through it's heart.

Keep Men Out of Girls Locker Rooms and Showers in Georgetown

Mesquite, Tx has become the latest city in Texas to allow men to self-identify their gender and therefore use the women's bathrooms, locker rooms and showers.

Mesquite recently approved, by a vote of 5-2, a new policy that opens up women's bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms to the opposite sex on city property such as City Hall, libraries, and city swimming pools and recreation centers.

Let your Mayor and City Council representatives know that any similar ordinance in Georgetown is completely unacceptable!

To stop this madness, we citizens must demand that the Texas state legislature pass legislation in the 2017 session forbidding all local governments from enacting ordinances allowing biological males from entering female bathrooms, locker rooms and showers.

Vulnerabilities!

An excellent YouTube presentation at the following Link that describes the threats that we citizens of the United States face on a daily basis without recognition or appreciation of the impact of cyber-attacks.

Retired USMC Colonel Brown, of the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory provides insight into cyber-attacks, the perpetrators, and the potential targets here in the U.S.

He believes the electric grid is especially vulnerable and a cyber-attack would have very serious consequences and would take considerable time to recover.

Colonel Brown describes how the U.S. Government is trying to prepare for a cyber-attack, but, it is clear that our ability to detect, defend and counter-attack is lacking. He identifies several weaknesses and approaches to eliminating them.

This is an area that is very poorly understood by the general public and everyone needs to get more educated on the threats and responses to a cyber-attack.

The City of Georgetown and the State of Texas need to take actions to protect the Texas electrical grid from attack!

Developer Proposes Up To 285 Apartments on Williams Drive

A developer has proposed rezoning land to allow building up to 285 apartments at the intersection of Williams Drive and Woodlake Drive, across from Ford Elementary School.

Here is the request.

The applicant has requested to rezone the subject property from the Office (OF) and Local Commercial (C‐1) Districts to 3.256 acres of the Low Density Multifamily (MF‐1) District and 9.990 acres of the High Density Multifamily (MF‐2) District. An approximately three‐acre portion of the tract not subject to this rezoning request and will remain zoned Local Commercial District. 

Site Information Location: The property is located on the south side of Williams Drive, between Cedar Lake Boulevard and Woodlake Drive, approximately one‐quarter mile west of the Shell/DB Woods intersection with Williams Drive. The location is in front of the neighborhood known as Terraces of Woodlake (subdivided as Woodlake, Phases 3 and 4), which contains about 160 homes.

And here is the map.

This application will be discussed at the Planning Commission meeting tomorrow, June 7 at 6 pm in City Council chambers.

The city staff is recommending disapproval for a variety of reason that con be found on the city's agenda website for the Planning Commission meeting.

It was reported that the staff had only received one oral comment opposed to the development.

Here is an opportunity for citizens to provide their input in a timely manner.  Contact the city planning office or better yet, attend the Planning Commission meeting tomorrow evening! 

District Attorney Jana Duty Sanctioned for Misconduct

Remember that District Attorney Jana Duty sent a memo to the Georgetown Police Chief regarding Officer Hoskins-Brown stating the officer's credibility was in question and that she could not be a credible witness in a trial. Therefore, Duty would not use Officer Hoskins-Brown as a witness in a County trial. Officer Hoskins-Brown was later fired based in part on Duty’s memo.

In another case, District Attorney Jana Duty has been sanctioned by the Texas State Bar for misconduct.

"GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) – The State Bar of Texas has publicly sanctioned Williamson County District Attorney Jana Duty for professional misconduct for intentionally withholding evidence from defense attorneys and violating a gag order in the same case.

According to the agreed judgment of probated suspension released by the State Bar’s Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, Duty intentionally withheld evidence from defense attorneys in the murder case against Crispin Harmel, accused of killing Jessical Kalaher. The Evidentiary Panel, which Duty selected instead of a public court proceeding to hear the grievances filed against her, also found she intentionally violated a gag order imposed by the court in the Harmel case.

District Judge Rick Kennon had previously determined Duty withheld evidence in the Harmel case, which is still pending in his court, after the first trial was declared a mistrial over the withheld evidence. Harmel now awaits a second trial. Judge Kennon also found duty violated his gag order and talked to media about the Harmel case. Duty was found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to 10 days in jail.

Duty agreed to an 18-month fully probated suspension of her law license, meaning she can still practice law as long as she doesn’t violate the law or any rules of professional misconduct during the probationary period. She must also comply with the minimum continuing legal education requirements of the State Bar of Texas and pay $3,250.00 in attorney fees to the State Bar.

It's not the first time Duty has been disciplined by the State Bar. In 2011, while serving as the Williamson County Attorney Duty released confidential information from an executive session of a Williamson County Commissioners Court meeting.

Duty recently lost her bid for re-election to attorney Shawn Dick. Since losing the election, Duty has largely been absent from work according to sources at the courthouse.

She has not responded to multiple attempts to contact her for comment".  KXAN

Affordable Housing for Georgetown?

There are many actions that the Georgetown City Council could take to increase the affordable housing in Georgetown. The first is to define affordable housing.

Councilman Fought has suggested the definition of affordable housing be broken down into three categories; The first being the working poor that make approximately $30,000/year; secondly, those who have no or very low incomes per year; thirdly, seniors that are living on low fixed incomes.

With respect to the first category, which includes beginning firemen and policemen, the city should effect the following:

1.  Keep the city budget constrained to population growth plus inflation.

2.  Minimize or eliminate city permits,fees and charges for those who build or modify homes for this category of users.

3.  Assure that zoning and land use supports the development of affordable housing for moderate incomes.

4.  Eliminate the use of International Building Codes for this class of housing. Develop Georgetown Texas specific codes.

5.  Streamline/minimize the approval process for the development of moderate income housing.

There are likely other actions that can be taken, but, these would be a good start.

Additional information needs to be developed by the city to address whether or not categories 2 and 3 are an issue.

Wake Up Citizens!!

The citizens of Georgetown, Texas and the United States better wake up to the destruction of our country before it is too late. Our institutions are being transformed away from our traditional values, especially our schools.

Here are some observations from David French, a conservative writer;

"You may not have realized it yet, but the Obama administration just destroyed the traditional American public school. Without an act of Congress, without a ruling from the Supreme Court, and without even going through the motions of the regulatory rule-making process, the administration issued a letter drafting every single public educational institution in the country to implement the extreme edge of the sexual revolution.

The Department of Justice and the Department of Education have declared that they now “interpret” federal law to not only support the fantastical notion that boys can become girls but also to impose new legal requirements that impact every aspect of school life. The administration’s letter sweeps far beyond bathrooms — imposing a new speech code on school employees and even students, opening girls’ showers to boys, requiring schools to allow boys to sleep in girls’ rooms on overnight field trips, requiring boys to room with girls even in single-sex dorms, and putting boys on girls’ sports teams.

Moreover, schools are prohibited from making any inquiry to ensure that the boys using girls’ facilities are, in fact, transgender. They can’t ask for medical documentation. They can’t ask for treatment information. They can’t ask for identification. They have to take the boy at his word.

And yet the administration’s letter isn’t significant just for what it says — it’s significant for what it means. The federal government can and will use extralegal means to override local control, the rule of law, and even the Constitution itself when social justice demands it".

Texas traditionally has had a big impact on school curriculum and textbooks, but, now California is about to approve a left-leaning curriculum for K-12 for history and social sciences that may impact schools nation wide. Here is what Stanley Kurtz has to say about the proposed California curriculum:

"California’s current curriculum is already biased toward modern liberalism, but the new framework takes several giant steps further to the left. On immigration, it is anti-assimilationist; on family and sexuality, it is radically anti-traditionalist; on terrorism, it tends to “blame America first;” on the 1960s, it highlights and implicitly lauds the most radical “black, brown, red, and yellow power movements;” on politics, it paints a halo over progressives while perpetrating a hit job on conservatives; on economics, it elevates Keynesian liberalism and ignores everything else; on military history, it is silent or slyly antagonistic; on contemporary politics, it reads like an anti-globalization protest pamphlet. 

Put the proposed new California history-social science framework together with the College Board’s leftist Advanced Placement history curriculum, and K-12 education in this country could soon be a near-exclusively leftist affair".

Schools in Texas are supposed to be open and transparent to parents and citizens. Go to the Georgetown and Jarrell schools and ask to see the curriculum, teaching plans, textbooks and teaching materials, especially for history and social studies. 

Don't let the schools erase our proud history and teach our children about the glories of socialism!

Attend school board meetings and demand that the schools repudiate the President's directive on boys and girls using the same showers, locker rooms and bathrooms!

This is our country and we have the right and obligation to determine its future through the education of our children.