I just hope that any rumors about any newspaper in town giving discounts for political ads are totally incorrect.
§ 255.002. RATES FOR POLITICAL ADVERTISING. (a) The rate
charged for political advertising by a radio or television station
may not exceed:
(1) during the 45 days preceding a general or runoff
primary election and during the 60 days preceding a general or
special election, the broadcaster's lowest unit charge for
advertising of the same class, for the same time, and for the same
period; or
(2) at any time other than that specified by
Subdivision (1), the amount charged other users for comparable use
of the station.
(b) The rate charged for political advertising that is
printed or published may not exceed the lowest charge made for
comparable use of the space for any other purposes.
(c) In determining amounts charged for comparable use, the
amount and kind of space or time used, number of times used,
frequency of use, type of advertising copy submitted, and any other
relevant factors shall be considered.
(d) Discounts offered by a newspaper or magazine to its
commercial advertisers shall be offered on equal terms to
purchasers of political advertising from the newspaper or magazine.
(e) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly
demands or receives or knowingly pays or offers to pay for political
advertising more consideration than permitted by this section.
(f) An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
All I'm going to say.
God Bless,
Dennis
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
May / Shall / Cemetery
Back in October or so we had some vandalism in the City Cemetery off of College Street. The vandals toppled over a couple of monuments that had been long standing. It's a sad a fare, and Ms. Wallace mentioned to the city council that she wasn't even aware if there were any living survivors to these who were buried there.
Mrs. Leifeste read letter to editor here has gone to the council requesting the council pay the $900 to have these monuments restored. In it she quoted State Law (Health & Safety Code, Title 8), "authorizes a municipality to regulate, improve, enclose and be a permanent trustee for the perpetual maintenance of the lots and graves in the cemetery."
The council rightly pointed out that just because it's 'authorized' didn't mean the city was in any way shape or form obligated to. There is a big difference being 'authorized' to do something and mandated to do something, and honestly our city has enough on it's plate without taking on perpetual care of our cemeteries. I personally believe that our city (both the staff and council) have taken the correct stance on this issue.
Now with that being said, it falls back to the citizens of Gonzales to take care of these things, NOT our city government. Several local citizens have already stepped up and pledged money to help cover the $900 cost of repairing the historical monuments in our cemetery. I believe we are over 30% in covering the cost, but need to hit 100% to get these repaired.
This blog averages about 500 hits a week. If everyone kicked in a couple of dollars this would be paid for immediately. Ok, but we know that's not going to happen. So I'm making an appeal to my readership to help out. Let's do what good citizens do in these cases, we take care of things. So far we've had donations from $25 - $100. But even $5 and $10 donations add up quickly, especially for the small amount we're talking about.
So if you're so inclined, please send donations to:
Solansky Monument Company
5233 US 183 North
Gonzales, TX 78629
Please annotate the check with "repair of vandalized stones" and if you'd like put a 'in memory of _______'.
When we reach the $900 Mr. Solanskys shop will do the work. The sooner we reach this the sooner the work can be done. Please consider making your donation today.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
Mrs. Leifeste read letter to editor here has gone to the council requesting the council pay the $900 to have these monuments restored. In it she quoted State Law (Health & Safety Code, Title 8), "authorizes a municipality to regulate, improve, enclose and be a permanent trustee for the perpetual maintenance of the lots and graves in the cemetery."
The council rightly pointed out that just because it's 'authorized' didn't mean the city was in any way shape or form obligated to. There is a big difference being 'authorized' to do something and mandated to do something, and honestly our city has enough on it's plate without taking on perpetual care of our cemeteries. I personally believe that our city (both the staff and council) have taken the correct stance on this issue.
Now with that being said, it falls back to the citizens of Gonzales to take care of these things, NOT our city government. Several local citizens have already stepped up and pledged money to help cover the $900 cost of repairing the historical monuments in our cemetery. I believe we are over 30% in covering the cost, but need to hit 100% to get these repaired.
This blog averages about 500 hits a week. If everyone kicked in a couple of dollars this would be paid for immediately. Ok, but we know that's not going to happen. So I'm making an appeal to my readership to help out. Let's do what good citizens do in these cases, we take care of things. So far we've had donations from $25 - $100. But even $5 and $10 donations add up quickly, especially for the small amount we're talking about.
So if you're so inclined, please send donations to:
Solansky Monument Company
5233 US 183 North
Gonzales, TX 78629
Please annotate the check with "repair of vandalized stones" and if you'd like put a 'in memory of _______'.
When we reach the $900 Mr. Solanskys shop will do the work. The sooner we reach this the sooner the work can be done. Please consider making your donation today.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
Monday, January 9, 2012
Back at it - Term Limits
Ok, vacation is good and all, but it's time to get back to work.
One of the things I've spoken about in the past, an in order NOT to cost the city additional money was withdrawn, was the need for Term Limits in Gonzales. So in a couple of weeks we will be releasing the petitions for this endeavor. We will need just over 400 registered voters in Gonzales to make this happen. The petition will read:
No person shall be eligible to hold the office of mayor or city council for more than four full terms, nor hold a total of more than of six terms in combined elected office, and shall not be placed on the ballot for election to any term if service for the full term would constitute a violation hereof.
Why do we believe term limits are needed?
1) Fresh Ideas - Anytime anyone has been in office to long their vision gets narrowed to what they've seen. Imagination goes out the window, and we get a bad case of 'that's how it's always been'.
2) 8 Years Is Enough - Ok, it takes a good year to get a good understanding of what you're doing on the council and how to make things happen, but if you can't get what you set out to achieve in 8 years do you really think you'll ever get it done? Let's be honest, you are more productive for the first couple of years than you'll be the rest of your career.
3) We've seen 2 corruptions cases prosecuted in our town, not to mention the probability of additional cases not prosecuted. Additionally corruption in our county government, and if you just look around in our neighbors you'll see dozens of cases of government corruption. That doesn't even cover things like the FBI sting in San Antonio or Austins council over the last decade. What do everyone of these have in common? Everyone of them have been in office for significant periods of time.
Currently the City of Gonzales has no term limits what so ever. The proposed limits are not very restrictive to be honest. 12 years total in office is a long time.
We know that there are those that are worried about who will run the city after term limits kick in. Honestly, it will be another group of men and women who care about the city. We've never had a vacancy because no one would run, and I promise it won't happen. There will always be someone to step up.
Last we want to point out that these limits do not apply retroactively to the current council. They will have the opportunity for an additional 6 years. Again, this is NOT retroactive. The timer would start May 2012. So this is NOT to kick anyone who is on the council off, this is to keep Gonzales growing and progressing in a positive manner.
God Bless,
Dennis
One of the things I've spoken about in the past, an in order NOT to cost the city additional money was withdrawn, was the need for Term Limits in Gonzales. So in a couple of weeks we will be releasing the petitions for this endeavor. We will need just over 400 registered voters in Gonzales to make this happen. The petition will read:
No person shall be eligible to hold the office of mayor or city council for more than four full terms, nor hold a total of more than of six terms in combined elected office, and shall not be placed on the ballot for election to any term if service for the full term would constitute a violation hereof.
Why do we believe term limits are needed?
1) Fresh Ideas - Anytime anyone has been in office to long their vision gets narrowed to what they've seen. Imagination goes out the window, and we get a bad case of 'that's how it's always been'.
2) 8 Years Is Enough - Ok, it takes a good year to get a good understanding of what you're doing on the council and how to make things happen, but if you can't get what you set out to achieve in 8 years do you really think you'll ever get it done? Let's be honest, you are more productive for the first couple of years than you'll be the rest of your career.
3) We've seen 2 corruptions cases prosecuted in our town, not to mention the probability of additional cases not prosecuted. Additionally corruption in our county government, and if you just look around in our neighbors you'll see dozens of cases of government corruption. That doesn't even cover things like the FBI sting in San Antonio or Austins council over the last decade. What do everyone of these have in common? Everyone of them have been in office for significant periods of time.
Currently the City of Gonzales has no term limits what so ever. The proposed limits are not very restrictive to be honest. 12 years total in office is a long time.
We know that there are those that are worried about who will run the city after term limits kick in. Honestly, it will be another group of men and women who care about the city. We've never had a vacancy because no one would run, and I promise it won't happen. There will always be someone to step up.
Last we want to point out that these limits do not apply retroactively to the current council. They will have the opportunity for an additional 6 years. Again, this is NOT retroactive. The timer would start May 2012. So this is NOT to kick anyone who is on the council off, this is to keep Gonzales growing and progressing in a positive manner.
God Bless,
Dennis
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