Duff Hale’s Letter Wars

Duff Hale, recently annexed with 1,299 other Midlothian-area taxpayers and a columnist for The Ellis County Press, has been taking up fuzzy math in the editorial sections of both the Waxahachie Daily Light and sister cover-up rag the Midlothian Mirror. The question borders on if money was spent from the parks fund(s) on eminent-domained property.

Hale’s latest letter:

Letter: ‘Responding to letter’
Published: Thursday, March 26, 2009 2:21 PM CDT
To the Editor,

A letter appeared in this week’s edition of the Midlothian Mirror that asserted my letter regarding acquisition of certain property by eminent domain and paid for with parks’ money was “false and misleading.” With all due respect to the letter writer, I do not believe my letter was in any way false or misleading.

In fact, in that letter I asked the question that should not the acquisition have been taken care of with funds from both parks and utilities. If it was indeed handled that way, then well and good. However, the information from the actual text of agenda item 2009-078 would lead one to draw an entirely different conclusion. In the section “ITEM SUMMARY/BACKGROUND” it clearly states this “is necessary for the installation of a new transmission main to the Water Treatment Plant No. 2 site.” No mention of any other use. Under the section “FINANCIAL IMPACT/FUNDING SOURCE” it clearly states, “Funding is available in Fund 226, Project No. 134, WTP No. 2 and Fund 120, Parks Projects. Debt has been issued for Project No. 122 Community Park. Expenses will be charged to the Park Land Acquisition and Land Project No. 123.” I don’t believe there is another conclusion that can be drawn from this language but that funding for the pipeline right-of-way is coming from parks money.

That is what I stated in my letter. As I said in my previous letter and stated above, if in fact funding did come from different sources, then well and good. It does not appear to me it did.

Duff Hale,
Midlothian

This letter is in response to a Midlothian damage-control specialist who plays as if Hale was misleading in his original letter. This letter-to-letter back and forth is going to bring out a lot of issues.

When Place 3 Councilman Ken Chambers wrote a letter to the editor that completely exposed a massively corrupt way of purchasing the old First Baptist Church-Midlothian for the city’s new justice/courts/police headquarters, no one anywhere responded. NO ONE.

NO ONE has come forward to accept responsibility or accountability for what Chambers wrote.

And sadly, the damage control division of Midlothian City Hall seems to have bypassed any resemblance of truth, judging by this response to Hale’s first letter:

The facts on parks money
Published: Thursday, March 19, 2009 3:51 PM CDT
Dear Editor,

In 2006 the voters of Midlothian passed a municipal bond package. This package included money ear-marked for park expansion and a start to a trail system for our city.

Since the passage of this bond, the Park Board has used all types of resources to work toward the completion of the Park Master Plan. We have utilized donated property, volunteer labor, neighborhood involvement, dual use property, and donated funds to achieve our goals. I believe that all of these types of resources are vital to the growth of our parks and trail system.

I hope that we will be able to make use of utility easements and rights of way to enhance our trail plans. One need look no further than the Katy Trail in Dallas to find an abandoned right of way that has helped to spark growth, development and rejuvenation. What once was considered an eye-sore is now a valuable asset to the uptown community.

In last week’s opinion section a letter stated that the city council had used money from the park bond to purchase a utility easement, and that the council had been intentionally deceitful in their action. This statement was false and misleading. I know that a pipeline easement is generally no wider than 20- to 30-feet, yet the city purchased 100-feet plus of easement. The additional width will provide for a second use as a pedestrian trail. This is a classic example of a dual use easement. This piece of property will help to form a link from Jaycee Park to our city center by way of a recreational trail. In fact, a 26-acre site is already held by the city immediately south of the purchased easement and right of way (just south and west of the Northridge neighborhood). The money used to purchase this easement came from two different funds: one set aside for parks and the other for utility work. This information is a matter of public record. The city council acted in an appropriate manner and did good work in acquiring one piece of property that can serve two purposes. And by the way, I encourage all interested citizens to review the city’s Trail Master Plan, which you can find at City Hall or on the city’s website at www.midlothian.tx.us (go to Departments/ Parks & Recreation).

Respectfully,

Gary Hensel, Chairman
Midlothian Park Board
Midlothian, Texas

See Online: MidlothianObserver.com

Mid-Way Regional Airport, Loop 9, Local Races

Freedom of the Press | Joey Dauben

Mid-Way Airport, Loop 9 and local races

The taxpayers in Midlothian and Waxahachie are getting screwed the longer we keep throwing more money at the massive construction problems caused by illegal contracts to the Nay Company for airport hangars.

The airport, shared and subsidized by both cities and run by an appointed seven-member board, has been the subject of intense scrutiny from pilots, construction contractors, politicians and lawyers alike. The only media outlet with a flashlight over the Highway 287 airport is this newspaper.

However, the three years’ worth of constant coverage, YouTube videos, blogs and other tools have not stopped the hemorrhage of tax dollars being used to repair the Nay Company’s damages. There are plane hangars with improperly built drains, leaky roofs and door gates that won’t lock into place when shut. Andy Biery, the new airport manager, has no experience managing so much as a Taco Bell, let alone an airport, according to his resume.

The Nay Company has done what was done to the original three-story Ellis County Justice Center, but this issue is different because voters didn’t get a chance to elect the airport board members as we did the county commissioners that passed a tax anticipation note to fund the Justice Center (they passed it after voters rejected the building at the polls.)

Both city councils in Midlothian and Waxahachie awarded the Nay Company numerous contracts equaling well over $1 million to repair and build shoddy hangars and other projects. No one seems to care because the power of incestual politics is too strong.

The taxpayers are being shafted at that airport, so much so that one of Mid-Way’s board members’ hangars had to be repaired 15 times. What’s so callous about this is that the damages committed by the Nay Company are also being repaired by the Nay Company.

The definition of insanity has an Ellis County equivalent: hiring the company that you originally brought on board to build things that itself has damaged and expecting different results is ridiculous.

I bought MidWayAirportBoard.com to serve as an online reminder of the tax dollars being poured into that sink hole.

Loop 9 Opposition

Two months ago, Megan Gray and I covered an Oak Leaf City Council meeting where I saw numerous maps on the walls. As someone who once had 12 variations of Ellis County maps on the walls, I can tell you how fascinating the ones featuring the highway Loop 9 project were.

They also disturbed me greatly. The alternate routes for the highway – first hatched in the 50s – go right through neighborhoods and subdivisions in Glenn Heights, Ovilla, Oak Leaf, Cedar Hill and southern Dallas/northern Ellis counties.

I’m not opposed to toll roads, which is what Loop 9 will be, but I am opposed outright to taking people’s homes and properties for a project an increasing number of readers have said they had no knowledge of.

I bought StopLoop9.com to prepare for Ellis County’s version of the Trans-Texas Corridor.

May 9
On Saturday, May 9 people will elect new councilmen, mayors and school trustees. The issues above will be sure to creep up with elected officials and challengers alike.

We don’t need a tea party in Washington, D.C. We need to go after these Ellis County officials allowing this stuff to take place.

Midlothian Election Polls

Place 5 | Who Would Get Your Vote on Election Day?
	Wayne Sibley – Incumbent
	Dr. Hank Miller
	None
	Undecided
	I Don’t Live in Midlothian
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Another poll:

Place 6 | Who Would Get Your Vote on Election Day?
	Steve Massey – Incumbent
	Bill Redding
	None
	Undecided
	I Don’t Live in Midlothian
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Don’t forget about the contested Midlothian ISD school board race:

MISD Place 1 | Who Would Get Your Vote on Election Day?
	Jay Roberts – Incumbent
	Daniel “Matt” Cooper
	None
	Undecided
	I Don’t Live in the Midlothian ISD
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Poll Policy: Users can only vote once per 30 days.

Online: Midlothian-ISD.net | Midlothian.TX.US.

ECP-TV.com | Selected Midlothian Videos

Place 3 Councilman Ken Chambers:

Political Assassination Against Councilman Ken Chambers

Click Here to Read the Archives on the Midlothian, Texas City Council Subcommittee Ethics Report and Investigation Against Councilman Ken Chambers

Note: That witch hunt ended in July of 2008 and no wrongdoing was found against Chambers. Mayor Boyce Whatley and the members of the subcommittee were later sued by Chambers.

09 | Midlothian City Council Elections

The hottest election in our county will be in Midlothian’s city council elections. And that means I’m cranking back up MidlothianObserver.com.

Election Day
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Place 5
Wayne Sibley – Incumbent
vs.
Dr. Hank Miller

Place 6
Steve Massey – Incumbent
vs.
Bill Redding

Already, the Citizens For Responsible Government and Midlothian Agenda have endorsed Miller and Redding.

Online:

CFARG.org

MidlothianAgenda.com

Also worth noting, Dr. Hank Miller’s treasurer is Ellis County Press columnist Duff Hale, who, like Miller and Redding, was annexed on Nov. 25, 2008.

Midlothian Councilman Ken Chambers, on his Web site KenChambers.net, offers this:

For those of you who have been tracking council activity, you are aware that there’s little to no communication between myself and fellow council members, including Mayor Whatley, over various agenda items that I have opposed.

The subcommittee that Whatley formed and dropped last July 2008, in an attempt to discredit me personally and my council seat, Place 3, “was the straw that broke the camel’s back.” My fellow council members stood by and said nothing, knowing this was a personal vendetta Whatley had against me over forced annexations and many other issues that I opposed.

Council members should have the right to voice their opinion and vote based upon his/her conscience. Council members should represent the people, not their personal agendas. I believe this is not the case with the current council.

There should be term limits on council member seats and the mayor. When someone remains in a position for an extended period of time, they become too relaxed, too confident and can lose their perspective on issues, as well as voting for special interest agenda items.

This election on May 9th for two council seats, Place 5 and 6, could very well determine the future direction of the city. Incumbent council members Wayne Sibley and Steve Massey will have to work extra hard to hold their seats. The two new candidates seeking these seats are well known and carry a lot of support; it should be an interesting campaign on both sides.

As an elected official, I cannot officially endorse a candidate for a council seat. I ask that citizens review all the facts and voting history on current council members and the political platform for the new candidates seeking those seats. As a city voter, you are entitled to the best representation on city council. You must ask yourself if you seek council members who will represent you and protect your Constitutional rights or council members that just go with the establishment.

I’d really like to know why elected officials cannot endorse. Is that by Midlothian’s charter or an ethics policy (haha, ethics) or state law or what?

I’ll give these two quotes for the reading public:

“Consensus is the process whereby everyone gives up what they believe in…for something that nobody believes in. What great cause in history would have been fought and won under the banner: ‘I stand for consensus?’ Consensus is the absence of leadership.”
— Margaret Thatcher

And this one:

“The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion.” – John F Kennedy

It is obvious from the years of running this blog and the news articles that I have written for The Ellis County Press who I would – if I had a vote – put my support behind.

Since Midlothian has produced more Republicans countywide in Ellis County, I think it’s time the city start acting the part, too. After all, how can the GOP be so strong in western Ellis County with those regulations and anti-freedom ordinances being produced from Cement City?

Larry Burns vs. Becky Ramsey | Part 1.0

Someone who did not have my permission (Joey speaking here) deleted a post titled Larry Burns vs. Becky Ramsey | Part 1.

I have changed passwords – again – and have granted administrator access to only two other people – Megan Gray and my webmaster.

The original contents of that blog post were located in a Cache file on Google, so the original contents are below.

[UPDATE]However, someone has deleted the original comments on the Chad Adams Resigns post. Those were some pretty controversial comments that were damaging to local real estate developer Larry Burns. Ironically, those were the only ones deleted, along with the blog post below.

However, if I find the person or persons involved in this, I have plenty of legal help to get even.

[[[Original Post: Larry Burns vs. Becky Ramsey | Part 1]]]

When The Ellis County Observer launched in October 2005, it was fueled in a large part by real estate investor/auto dealer Larry Burns and Rodney Pat Ramsey going at it over a few controversial issues pertaining to downtown Waxahachie’s location for the new justice center, jail and parking garage.

[Click Here to Read the 2005 Archives]

Now Ramsey’s wife, Becky, is at it with Burns over some reportedly disparaging remarks made in some facilities subcommittee meetings (this was stirred by me reporting rumors on a Burns for County Judge campaign.) The claims are that Burns more or less said voters in Ellis County are too “stupid” to make decisions on certain county issues and that he referred to people of Middle Eastern heritage as (a) “towel-heads” or (b) “sand-niggers” or (c) wait until we release the written recorded meeting minutes to find out for sure.

It should be noted that: Ramsey ran for county/district attorney against Burns’ “boy,” Joe Grubbs. The Waxahachie Daily Light stabbed Ramsey in the back, the heart, the sides, the face, the legs, and probably beat up his wife in the process multiple times, which is why Ramsey no longer speaks with the WDL. (or writes for them)

This is classic Establishment vs. Non-Establishment.

I’ll let the readers judge – and post responses unedited – for themselves:

[Original Blog Post: http://www.elliscountyobserver.com/?p=5159&cpage=1#comment-16284]
From: Becky Ramsey
Would that be the same larry burns who insinuated that the citizens of ellis county were too dumb to make their own decisions?…the same one who used racially insensitive remarks in a public forum (which were recorded in the minutes)?…the same one who served on a facilities committee for a year, helped waste a few thousand tax dollars and then admitted they had accomplished nothing during their tenure?…the same one who swallowed any pride he may have had to kiss up to Judge Adams for board appointments?..is it the same one who attempted to get me fired for a letter to the editor written by my husband?…that guy? yeah, thats what we need..another completely unqualified candidate short on brains and quick to anger…but then again, he probably doesn’t have anything better to do and that seems to be a qualification around here lately…lets elect the guy with the least experience and ability…that always a good idea…jeesh.

More responses:

[Original Post: http://www.elliscountyobserver.com/?p=5159&cpage=1#comment-16284]
From: Larry Burns
Becky,
I think that most Ellis County citizens realize that my service on three different facilities commitees as well as service with The Friends of Ellis County, who were instrumental in the passing of the bond, has been to assure that what happened in the past would not happen again. The person that made the racially insensitive remarks you reffered to was not me and was not invited back to serve on subsiquent commitees at my suggestion, perhaps you need to read the transcript again. I think you failed to mention that you and your husband Rodney Ramsey were speculating on property accross the street from the Justice Center at the time the original facilities group met, and we were’nt moving fast enough to suit you, resulting in much discourse. Chad Adams was never pleased at seeing me serve in any capacity and never appointed me to anything. Becky you took information meant for your employer, who’s property was later purchased by the county and shared it to your husband who used that information in a letter to the editor. I informed your employer that we would no longer be allowed to meet informally because of this breech and what your employer did after that is none of my concern. I have never announced my intention of running for County Judge and have no intention to do so. I have however, been asked to consider filling the un-expired term and I said I would consider it. If your intent is to help Bob Carroll get elected I think you should tell Bob in advance that you intend to use inflamatory remarks on his behalf and let him decide if he needs your help. Bob Carroll is an honorable man and a friend and I doubt he approves of such behavior on his behalf.

Larry Burns

[UPDATE] Unfortunately, again, certain comments originally posted detailing the back-and-forth exchange between Burns and Ramsey are gone. Totally. Someone who did not have my permission deleted the content.