Traffic

I remember about 15 years ago I was at the stop light by McDonald's and there were 6 cars going the same direction at the light.  When I saw then Mayor O'Neal a couple of days later I told him he'd better get a handle on the traffic before it got out of hand.  Joking as I was at the time, it appears I was onto something and didn't even know it.

Now I know that the increase numbers of 18-wheelers have had some impact, especially on Sarah DeWitt and 183.  The city council even created trucking routes to keep 18 wheelers out of the town, and on those 2 streets.

But that's not what I want to address. 

Several times last week I was almost hit by someone running red lights.  Not one of those was an 18-wheeler.  The first one came off of St George and turned right as I was coming from KCTI.  I had to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid hitting the car. 

Second was by the courthouse when some ran a seriously red light at high speed on St. Louis.  I was already into the intersection (on a green light) and had to slam on my breaks to prevent this pickup truck from ruining my life. 

Now there have been others in the last couple of weeks of people running red lights, but those 2 were not only the closest but the scariest to me.  I'm talking heart pounding, pull the car to a stop and take a deep breath type of close. 

So I've been watching.  I think at least part of it's been that we as a group are not the best of drivers.  We drive like we're the only ones on the road and it's not a big deal, and 15 years ago that kind of driving didn't matter.  There wasn't a car waiting at every corner, so by default we could drive through a lot of intersections and it didn't matter.  Now note I have referenced "we" in this statement.  Until I started teaching my boys how to drive, I was very much in that group.  There is nothing like having a teenager in the car, who by their very nature know everything, and you're trying to tell them not to drive like you are if they want to pass their driving test, to make you change the way you drive.  I'm about to start on #3 teenage about to drive. 

I've also noticed that while teenagers drive like teenagers, especially right before and after school and during lunch, that the lack of driving skills is not limited to teenagers. 

This weekend one of our mainstays of Gonzales, Mr Burchard, was medi-flighted out of here because of an accident.  I don't know the details, but what I do know is that to many people I know have been in accidents over the last 6 months.  That these are local people getting hurt and yes, even killed because of people not paying attention to their driving, or in to much of a rush to wait for a stop light. 

If you're not able to drive in this traffic then you are just as much to blame as those going to fast.  Get off the road.  I know it limits your life style, but when you cause an accident and someone else gets killed what is that trip to Walmart going to mean to you? I know I've heard it 1000 times in the last couple of years, "it's just down the block" or "we're on the back roads after we get off 90a".  This from unlicensed kids driving while their parents are in the car, or worst letting the kids drive without them, and from people, 1 elderly and one who had medical problems and shouldn't be driving.  To young and to old or sick but the laws don't apply to them. *can you hear me rolling my eyes?*

I'm begging you, slow down.  Stop at lights and stop signs.  Pay attention to what's going on around you.  Be responsible about your driving. Don't drive if you shouldn't be (for whatever reason). 

The 18 wheeler deal is a whole other problem and it's just as serious.  But not much 'we' can do individually about that.  The council and police will have to handle those.  BUT we CAN and MUST take care of the problems I've listed above.  I'm tired of hearing about people I know in accidents, and am scared to death, wondering how many we'll have to bury before we'll change the way we think.

God Bless,
Dennis

Our Neighbors

Ok, the last 2 post of mine, and several conversations later I've come to some conclusions.  Now I'm not going to take credit for these ideas being mine originally, but I will say that I'm going to try to in-brace the thought a bit more.

Back 2 1/2 - 3 years ago a newspaper editor named Greg Little attacked not the policies of, but the personality of one of our council members.  In a single instant he made it okay for small town politics to go negative and for us to 'hate' our neighbors based on their politics and/or personalities.  The worst part, and I'm just as guilty of this as the next guy, is that we've allowed that to happen!  We have allowed the negativity to drive wedges between people to the point we don't want to even talk to some people.

We can't allow that to continue.

Just because we don't agree with someones personal life, or  a decision they've made, doesn't make them evil.  Nor does it mean that we can't work together for the betterment of our community. 

Some of you would think that after my posting on ethics I think Bob Burchard is a two headed monster.  I don't.  I don't like the current tactics he's using in his attempts for mayor.  I wish that all we heard from his campaign were what Bob was going to do for this community, and cut out the bashing of his opponent Bobby Logan.

But last weekend Bob and I worked together with the scouts and other organizations to help clean out the city cemetery. We can agree to disagree and still work together to make our town, that's right yours and my town of Gonzales, a better place for all who live here and visit here.  For 3 hours we worked as a team.  No punches were thrown.  No snide comments were made.  No x-ray visions hoping to blow the other one up with their superhero powers were being used.  No, didn't happen that way.  We came together, we saw a problem, we conquered it together.

Still don't like his political tactics, but love what's he's spearheading in the cemetery.  No hatred. 

There is not a councilman sitting that I haven't gotten onto about something over the last 2+ years.  But that's not personal.  It's not because I think they are the evil city monsters trying to rule the world. It's because I felt like in those instances they didn't think things through, they didn't look long term, or they weren't looking at the whole picture. But I get along with most everyone that sits on the council including Bobby Logan whom I've smacked hard over the last 2 years in this blog.  Everyone of them INCLUDING the mayor has sit at my dinner table for some talk or another over the years. 

Now I'm going to say that part of this demeanor is still perpetuated by our papers.  Notice that's papers not paper.  Headlines like Judgement Day and similar have to stop.  Facebook comments about 'the other paper' have to stop.  If you want to make a personal comment then make it under your name, but don't put it on the newpapers website or Facebook page for the public to see the dirty laundry! Leave them under your blog or own personal page and don't link them. Just worry about the news you're going to report next paper, and the real news in our community that our town needs and wants.

Our community has come a long ways over the last 2 years in healing a lot of wounds created after Mr. Little opened Pandora's box.  But there is still some festering and ooze leaking out.  It's time we finish the healing. 

When there's something wrong let's address it.  This blog will continue to do that too. It doesn't mean that we won't have issues with JB Wells, finances, or other things in our city, but they need to be about what's going to make our city better, not the personalities. 

As one who has crossed that line more than once I'm going to apologize now, and I'm serious when I say I'm going to make every attempt to take the personalities out of this blog and keep it more narrowly approached on the issues. 

It is NOT okay to hate your neighbor.  I don't care what some editor might of told us 3 years ago. 

Who's with me on this?

God Bless
Dennis

Ethics, Really?

So I'm a bit miffed.  I have had at least 2 other people and Mr. Burchard tell me how unethical Mr. Logan is.  And mind you I've called out Bobby Logins' ethics in this blog. But I think that someone who was fined $112,000 over the course of the last 7 years by the Texas Department of Insurance wouldn't be pointing out the ethics of someone else.

In March 2004 the following was listed on the Texas Department Of Insurance - Summary Of Operations For 3rd Quarter, FY 2004  page:

Then in March 2007 the real hickey came, and is also on the Texas Department Of Insurance - Summary Of Operations For 4th Quarter, FY 2007 page:

You will notice in the first case Burchards was the second largest fine, and in the second he was 2x the next closest fine. What does that tell me?  It tells me this wasn't for minor little, oops we forgot something.

Now I'm going to say this one more time, let's talk about issues!!! I'm tired of the talking about who slapped who, or who slept around and cheated on their wife.  Or who chopped down trees or who didn't fire Huseman, or who wants to be holier than thou, or who skipped school in 1957.  Frankly the character card in this race should NEVER have been brought up by either candidate and I said that a month ago.  Hell I've only been here 17 years and even I knew better than to bring up character with these 2. So this race has to come down on issues:

Now that JB Wells is under management how are we going to make sure it stays a vital part of our community and never get into a position where we were at a year ago?

How are we going to deal with the $20,000,000 debt ($6,000,000 + 25 years interest) we've put on our citizens for our water system so that we never are in this position again?

How can we manage our current prosperity to the best benefit of our citizens?

How can we drive visitor friendly businesses downtown to revitalize the wonderful downtown we have?

How are we going to grow our infrastructure to meet the current demands without leaving us hanging in a couple of years without unpaid for projects 1/2 finished when the boom is all over?

How are we going to make sure that a our children have something that keeps them occupied, educated and employed?

How are we going to make sure we're running as efficient a city as possible so that we are never looking to have to lay off employees?

Are we going to pay for museum repairs (millions of $$$'s) with our tax dollars or are we going to make sure private sector and grants are paying for repairs?

Are we going to be business friendly, or are we going to try to keep Gonzales in 1825?

Oh, the list goes on and on, so don't talk to me about who slept with who, or who said what. Geez, it's not even a presidential election and it yet you'd think it was ....I've heard a lot of bs when what we really need is answers to real issues.

God Bless,
Dennis Nesser