More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

Yesterday I said that I was experiencing 2010 Fort Worth, Texas as a 1984 Orwellian World of Double-Speak and Big Brother overbearingness.

Later in the day, yesterday, the Orwellian Double-Speak got louder, after I was pointed to the Tarrant Regional Water District website and read its propaganda, with an ever growing sense of amazement at the bald-facedness of the Double-Speak.

Here is a gem...

"Why Should You Save Water?

The water supplies we depend on are not endless resources. For one, drought conditions are a part of life in North Texas. And the number of people living here is expected to double in the next 50 years. That means the demand for water will certainly rise – and meeting that demand will be a challenge. That’s where you come in. By saving small amounts of water everyday, you can make a big difference."

The Tarrant Regional Water District is currently allowing the sucking of millions of gallons of water from the Trinity River by gas drillers. Water that will not, can not, be recycled. Instead the water is polluted with dangerous, cow-killing, chemicals, used, then discarded underground, where we are assured, by the foxes guarding the henhouse, that the polluted water can not penetrate the aquifers. Or kill any more cows.

So, the entity, Tarrant Regional Water District, in charge of protecting the valuable water resource, acknowledges North Texas has a drought problem, and then, apparently, allows what appears to be the totally unregulated stealing of millions of gallons of water by the gas drillers.

Check out the Tarrant Regional Water District website, yourself, and have fun spotting the Orwellian Double-Speak and outrageous ironies and out and out hypocrisies. I looked all over the website and found not a single mention of the gas driller's Trinity River water sucking activities or the Tarrant Regional Water District's policies regarding the water sucking.

I took the above from the Tarrant Regional Water District website. Can we all say Double-Speak together?

And then there is the "Conflict of Interest Questionaire." This supposedly has to be filled out by the gas drillers wanting to suck water out of the Trinity. If you read through the questionnaire it is obvious the gas driller would have to acknowledge that the Mayor of Fort Worth, Mike Moncrief, has a vested interest in the gas driller wanting a water permit.

Here's a good one. The following paragraph is on the Tarrant Regional Water District website. I wanted to send senior land agent Rick Carroll an email with some questions. Click on the email link in the excerpt below (or just click here to go directly to that page) and you will see the email link does not work. I have sent in my questions via other means. I'll let you know if I hear back and what I get told. Below the below paragraph, taken from the Tarrant Regional Water District website, is my email I was unable to send directly to the senior land agent.

A Special Operating Permit is required for any commercial activity or event on Water District property. This includes, but is not limited to, the Fort Worth Floodway, Marine Creek Lake and Cement Creek Lake. In addition to permit fees, TRWD will require Permitee to name TRWD as "additional insured" on the insurance policy for the event. Any person interested in obtaining a Special Operating Permit may contact Rick Carroll, senior land agent at (817) 335-2491 ext.224 or by email.

Dear Senior Land Agent Rick Carroll,

I am interested in 6 pipelines preparing to take water from the Trinity River east of Beach Street, near the entry to Gateway Park, in Fort Worth.

According to your TRWD website such uses of water are allowed only after obtaining a Special Operating Permit. The amount of water desired must be disclosed. The water taken must be metered.

I have looked closely at and photographed the Beach Street pipeline site. There are no permits posted. There are no water meters. The plastic oil spill containing mat, upon which the 6 pumps sit, has tears and voids.

I would like to know where I can view the permits that are allowing this removal of Trinity River water, how it is being metered, how much is being paid for the water and the records of oversight of the pumping site.

You can view more details of what I've experienced and seen at the Beach Street pipeline site here.

Thank you in advance for answering my questions,

Durango Jones
durangotexas.blogspot.com

UPDATE: Permits have now been duct taped to the 6 pumps in question at the Beach Street site.

Who Decided To Put Traffic Cones On The Trinity Trail Between Beach Street & Gateway Park?

After hiking, for an hour or so, up and down the Tandy Hills, I headed north to the Beach Street Wal-Mart.

Being on Beach Street I was curious to have a look at the Beach Street/Gateway Park Express Energy water sucking operation.

Yesterday, the paved Trinity Trail (on which, last Saturday, I'd had a muddy confrontation with a White Darth Vader Express Energy Truck) was being cleaned.

Today the "UTILITY WORK AHEAD" sign was still up, and traffic cones still lined the trail from Beach Street to the site of the water pumping. There were two Express Energy trucks at the end of the traffic cones, one was on the levee, above the pumping site, the other was over the edge, backed up right to the pumps.

I saw no utility work being done. I did see the paved trail is now totally mud free, including the thickly muddied area where the Express Energy trucks drove on to the trail.

So, what's going on here? Are the traffic cones being left there to stop Express Energy trucks from driving on the pedestrian "No Motorized Vehicles Allowed" trail? Or are the trucks able to drive right over the cones without hitting them?

Today when I left Wal-Mart I decided to drive back to Gateway Park. I was curious if there was a "UTILITY WORK AHEAD" sign at the Gateway Park entry to the Trinity Trails, that being the pedestrian bridge you see in the picture. Well, all I saw was the final orange traffic cone at the end of the bridge. That's in the picture at the top.

When I took the picture of the bridge I could see there was no longer an Express Energy truck parked on top of the Trinity River levee.

I was curious if the truck over the edge was still there, so I walked to where there is a vantage point looking down on the operation. You can see the truck through the brush in the upper right part of the picture. And a guy in red with a white hat working on the pumps.

There are 2 more pumps sitting on top of the levee.

I think the mud ruts on the "road" down to the pump site must have dried up, if a truck is able to get back out of there without a lot of tire spinning and more muddy rutting and damage to the levee. It's quite steep.

Below is a chronological list of links of bloggings about the Express Energy Service Trinity River Gateway Park pumping operation...

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

Express Energy Service Section Of Fort Worth Trinity Trails Getting Cleaned For Mysterious Reasons

Today after hiking on the Tandy Hills I went to Town Talk. As my one longtime reader knows, that puts me on Beach Street where I can see the current state of the Express Energy Services taking water from the Trinity River operation.

That same one longtime reader may remember me mentioning driving on Beach Street a couple days ago and seeing no notorious White Darth Vader Truck guarding the operation.

So, of course I was curious to see if the Terror Trucks were still gone today.

What I found was just something new to be perplexed about.

When I blogged about my Saturday experience with mafia-like thuggery, I mentioned how badly Express Energy had muddied up the Trinity Trail and rutted up the Trinity River levee.

Today the Trinity Trail was marked off with orange traffic cones and the sign you see in the picture, "UTILITY WORK AHEAD."

The Utility Work appeared to be the cleaning off of the muddied Trinity Trail. I did not get any closer than the sign, so I don't know if it was a City of Fort Worth work crew, cleaning up the trail, burning your tax dollars to clean up after Express Energy, or if it was Express Energy cleaning up after themselves.

There was a White Darth Vader Truck guarding the river pumping site. I saw at least 1 Express Energy goon standing by the truck. I didn't want a repeat of Saturday's fun, so I took my pictures and continued on to Town Talk.

So, why is the muddy mess being cleaned up while Express Energy is still driving a truck to the pump site? I assume they are still driving on the pedestrian trail that says "NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES."

When I was in Town Talk I thought to myself that the only reason to clean up the mess was that the pumping was already over. I could not see the pumps from my vantage point by the Utility Work Ahead sign. I thought, maybe the white truck, by the pump site, was there to clean up the mess and the pumps were gone.

The pumps being gone seemed to be the only thing that made sense of the effort going into cleaning the trail.

When I was done in Town Talk I headed to Gateway Park. I parked by the trailhead that leads to the bridge that crosses on to the Trinity Trails. As soon as I opened my door I heard the pumps.

So, very perplexing. Why is the trail being cleaned while the mess makers are still making messes?

Below is a chronological list of links of bloggings about the Express Energy Service Trinity River Gateway Park pumping operation...

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

Express Energy Pumps Not Sucking Trinity River Water At Gateway Park Trinity Trail Location

I'm often surprised by what I see when I cross the Trinity River, heading north on Beach Street. Today there were no white Express Energy Services trucks to be seen.

Maybe because, except for cleaning up after themselves, their water sucking operation, at this location, seems to have ended.

The pumps have been drug up from the river's edge. I assume this means they are done.

I could tell that the Express Energy Services trucks had not driven on the paved trail. All the orange traffic cones were knocked over and scattered, but there was no fresh mud on the trail.

I can't help but wonder how it came to be that the Express Energy people were told to quit driving on the paved trail?

A "UTILITY WORK AHEAD" sign remains up, with no utility work appearing to be happening.

It will be interesting to see how well the muddy, rutted mess on the Trinity River levee is cleaned up. Then again, this may not be the last of the water sucking from this location. This had been the second iteration of a pumping operation at where Gateway Park meets the Trinity Trails.

In the second picture you are looking south, towards the Trinity River, from the east side of Beach Street. You can see the Express Energy pipelines on the left and right.

This is the access point for what I was calling the White Darth Vader Trucks. A little bridge took the trucks over the pipelines, then, before they were stopped from doing so, they'd take a left on to the paved trail, quickly having it thickly covered with mud.

That mud was cleaned up when the "Utility Work Ahead" first appeared.

Below are most of the links to the bloggings about my experiences with Express Energy Services. I hope that subject is at an end...

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

The Ongoing Battle Against Conflicts Of Interest & Fort Worth Fascism

Ever since I read the FW Weekly cover story "He Won't Pipe Down" about Steve Doeung's heroic battle against the City of Fort Worth and Chesapeake Energy, to save his home from being stolen via yet one more case of eminent domain abuse in Texas, one part of Steve's story bothered me, almost more, than the eminent domain abuse.

When Steve Doeung did not give in to Chesapeake Energy's strongarm pressure tactics and made clear he was going to fight them, the City of Fort Worth sent in a gang of thugs made up of Code Violation Inspectors, accompanied by Fort Worth Police Gestapo Stormtrooper Agents.

Now, there might be those who think it outrageous that I refer to the Fort Worth Police as Gestapo Stormtroopers. Well, it is not outrageous. It is accurate.

The state, in the form of the City of Fort Worth, sent agents to intimidate a person who was rebelling against the state's fascism. Entering Steve's home, writing citations, scaring his daughter with their angry demeanor. Gestapo Stormtroopers is a perfect metaphor.

What I want to know is who ordered the Gestapo raid on Steve Doeung's home? This is a guy who survived the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, made it to America, with the rest of his family, and in an extremely short time has managed to become a classic All-American Hero of the Epic Sort. The idea that this guy would be the victim of Nazi-like terror, while living in the Land of the Free, well, it just aggravates me.

And while he is battling the fascist Fort Worth regime, he is also battling Lyme Disease.

The fact that the City of Fort Worth would use such a tactic is yet one more example of what happens when you have a city government corrupted by Conflicts of Interest. When you have a mayor who is a lackey for the natural gas drilling industry, that is running roughshod over the Barnett Shale region.

Did someone from Chesapeake Energy call up Mayor Mike Moncrief and tell him they wanted him to send in some of the city's Stormtroopers to scare Steve Doeung into submission? How did this raid come about? Did FW Weekly try and find out and ran into yet one more stonewall?

And now, another instance of Gestapo tactics taking place in increasingly fascist Fort Worth. That being my experiences with Express Energy Services. At the end of this blogging I'll list all the links to my bloggings about Express Energy Services.

Saturday's was the worst, where the Express Energy thugs crossed a serious line and committed what amounted to an assault. Saturday morning I'd blogged that I was going to check in on the Express Energy operation and see if I could find the non-existent meters that are supposed to be part of the operation.

I was taking pictures when two Express Energy goons got out of their White Darth Vader Truck. Okay, no harm in that. It is what happened next where a line was crossed. The guys in the truck must have called another guy in another White Darth Vader Truck and told him I have no idea what.

That guy in the second truck came towards me, at a high rate of speed, driving on the no motorized vehicles allowed, public, paved, pedestrian Trinity Trail. I jumped off the trail after the game of chicken had gone too far. At that point I was both mad and a little scared.

I continued walking, taking pictures. That truck quickly turned around and headed back towards me. I was off the paved trail, aiming my camera at him. He stopped about 100 feet from me.

It was obvious to both myself and Big Ed, who was appalled to experience in person, the bizarre incidents I'd been blogging about, that the guy in the truck was trying to intimidate us.

Why? Who gave the order to do so?

The guy in the second truck was not hurrying down the trail to conduct any business with the other 2 guys, that was made clear when he quickly turned around and headed back towards us.

I did not realize, til Big Ed told me later, that the Terror Truck had crossed to the other side of Beach Street and was watching us from the road that runs to the gas drilling operation.

Again why? I have also learned, from a couple of my own agents, that the White Darth Vader Truck is breaking another law by not having a license plate on its front bumper. Are those Fort Worth Code Compliance people and Fort Worth Gestapo Agents going to stage a raid on the Express Energy operation?

No. That won't happen. Thanks to that Conflicts of Interest situation that prevents the law from operating the way it is supposed to operate.

In chronological order below are the bloggings that has Express Energy Services going all Karen Silkwood on me....

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

This morning I got a comment from Anonymous. I believe it being the same Anonymous which I blogged about last night regarding me being clueless regarding how it is water is being taken from the Trinity River by natural gas drillers.

This morning Anonymous said...

I personally believe that you should take the time to find the field supervisor and discuss w/ them as a whole of what you think is going on at the Trinity River-there are permits posted...if you have issues pick up the phone and call Express Energy and then let the Manager over that division explain what is REALLY going on! You also didn't take the time to go look at the permits that are posted on the pumps....where are THOSE pictures?! You also didn't include the picture once the plastic was replaced BEFORE the job was started. Educate yourself before pointing fingers, if you need that education on what is actually going on then go work a day in the field w/ these guys and maybe then you will better understand it all.

Anonymous says there are permits posted on the pumps and that the plastic oil barrier with the holes has been replaced. I'd taken the pictures of the pumps 2 days ago. I saw no permits. I did not believe the plastic oil buffer had been replaced.

So, I took off out of here, braving the extreme cold, to take pictures off all sides of one of the pumps. And to see if the plastic had been replaced.

Well, imagine my shock when I found there were no permits posted on the pumps. And it was easy to find tears, voids and problems with the, obviously unreplaced, plastic oil buffer. Anonymous now has absolutely no credibility and is obviously either a propaganda shill for the City of Fort Worth or the gas drillers. Or both.

And in a further Orwellian Big Brother element. Just as I'd finished taking my pictures and had put the camera away, a white Express Energy truck popped into view at the top of the levee, just as I started to climb back up there. A guy got out of the truck, walking towards me. I said howdy.

He then whipped out his phone. I continued walking. Fast. I reached into my pocket and got out my camera, turned it on, turned around and took a picture, but all I got was the truck. The guy on the phone must have gone down the bluff to check on the pumps.

But, he was back on the top of the levee, just as I was again putting my camera away. I saw he was still on his cell phone. I then got out my cell phone and, as I quickly walked back to my vehicle, I called my operative at Home Base and told the operative to stay on the line til I was safely out of there. I told my operative if I gave the word, to call 911, and tell the police you were seeing a bunch of guys beating up someone at the Beach Street Boathouse.

As I continued walking, the guy in the Express Energy truck sped by at high speed on the paved Trinity Trail that forbids motorized vehicles. By the time I was a couple hundred feet from my vehicle I saw 2 more trucks pull in. One pulled in right in front of my vehicle.

When I reached my vehicle the first Express Energy truck was blocking me from behind, the other from the front. That first guy I saw was still on the phone, as was I. I acted like I was counting something and said the license number of one of the trucks to my operative on the phone.

The first guy then signaled the other to back off. I zoomed out of there and hurried back here. The first picture, above, was that picture I told you I took of the truck. The next 2 pictures are views of sides of one of the pumps. I'm going to show you several views, covering the entire pump, showing you that Big Brother Anonymous lied. There are no permits posted.

Another pump view.

And another. Seeing any permits? Me either.

Still no permits.

Why would Anonymous lie so flagrantly? A lie so easily exposed.

A hole in the plastic oil barrier that Anonymous claims has been replaced.

Notice how the plastic oil barrier does not quite cover the entire area under the pump that I took pictures of on all sides.

A rather large hole in the plastic oil barrier.

How did that Express Energy guy know to speed down the no motorized vehicle trail to check on a guy doing something there? Or am I just being paranoid and it was all a very weird co-incidence? The guy looked very hostile, to me, and certainly did not return my very friendly "Howdy," instead whipping out his cell phone.

Jovo, the Petro Scientist, pointed me to some other very strange Orwellian weirdness, but I've no energy right now to deal with that. I am still way too hyper-adrenalized by my strange encounter with Express Energy. That I have to get ready to go on my Ice Cold Bro-Date on the Tandy Hills.

Chesapeake Energy Propaganda Says With Great Progress Comes Great Responsibilty

Any of us living in the Tarrant County zone of the Barnett Shale who may have wondered what it may have been like to live in a world of the sort envisioned by George Orwell, or what it might have been like to live in Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, places where the state controlled the media and thus had free reign to spew whatever ridiculous propaganda the regime felt like spewing, can wonder no more.

Welcome to the Orwellian World of Fort Worth, Texas.

Orwell's Big Brother, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany used a lot of slogans to make their propaganda points.

In Fort Worth we have a shadow government run by Chesapeake Energy. For years now Chesapeake Energy has been spewing propaganda, in addition to air pollution. The Chesapeake Energy slogans show up on Fort Worth buses, billboards, newspaper ads, TV ads and bus stop benches.

Chesapeake Energy is now calling the Barnett Shale "Buried Treasure" and hosting "The Party In Fort Worth" for Fort Worth's elite to celebrate the Buried Treasure that is making many of the elite wealthy while making others in Fort Worth, and beyond, sick.

Some examples of Chesapeake Energy's Orwellian propaganda slogans are...

"Let's get behind the Barnett"

"Thanks Barnett Shale for our Strong Economy"

"Friends of Barnett Shale"

"Barnett Shale Helps Our Schools"

Well, it sure has been fairly well documented that Fort Worth's schools can use some help. It has been years now Chesapeake Energy has been helping. Any improvement?

What has freshly annoyed me regarding the Chesapeake Energy propaganda is this morning it interfered with my fast peruse of Chesapeake Energy's propaganda partner, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

An annoying ad curled over the top of the front page, from "the Barnett Powering Progress."

With the propaganda slogan, "WITH GREAT PROGRESS COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY."

Great responsibility? Like when Chesapeake Energy responsibly tried to force a non-odorized natural gas pipeline under Fort Worth's Carter Avenue, and was only stopped from doing this due to an extremely rare citizen's protest against this outrageously irresponsible assault on a neighborhood?

This morning's propaganda does not specifically attribute it to Chesapeake Energy. The Nazis did not always trumpeted their messages as being from Hitler either. Like the "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign, upon entry to Auschwitz, did not say "Arbeit Macht Frei Sagen Adolf Hitler."

But, who else would pay for this annoying ad but Chesapeake Energy and it cohorts in poking holes in the ground all over Fort Worth and Tarrant County?

Kermit Texas Nurse Faces 10 Prison Years For Reporting Doctor's Malpractice

There is a whole lotta crazy that goes on in Texas. I've mentioned before that the zone I live in takes on Orwellian aspects at times, what with all the double-speak from various Texas state agencies that are supposed to be protecting the people and the environment.

But it's not just my zone of Texas. A whole lotta crazy comes out of this little town in far West Texas, called Kermit.

Gar the Texan is from Kermit. That's one example. Sheriff Robert L. Roberts Jr., that's him in the picture, is another example of crazy coming out of Kermit.

There is this medical thing called the Hippocratic Oath, that's an oath medical type people take in which they pledge, among other things, to do no harm to patients.

Well, the Hippocratic Oath has been turned upside down in Kermit. A doctor in Kermit, Rolando G. Arafiles Jr., was doing bad things, like doing a skin graft, that failed, in an emergency room where he did not have surgical privileges. Another time Arafiles sutured a rubber tip to a patient's finger, an unorthodox procedure which was deemed inappropriate by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

A nurse, Anne Mitchell, had seen enough of what she believed to be Arafiles' bad medicine. She and a fellow nurse, Vickilyn Galle, sent a letter detailing the bad medicine they had witnessed, to state regulators.

That letter set in motion a bizarre chain of events that now has the good nurse indicted, facing 10 years in prison, for being true to the Hippocratic Oath. Nurse Mitchell is set to stand trial in state court on Monday for "misuse of official information." Whatever that is, it is a 3rd-degree felony in Texas.

The state prosecutor claims he will show that Nurse Mitchell had a history of making inflammatory statements about Dr. Arafiles, intending to damage his reputation, when she reported him to the Texas Medical Board, last April.

Nurse Mitchell, on the other hand, she being a voice of sanity in the troubled town of Kermit, said she had a professional obligation to protect patients from what she saw was a pattern of improper prescribing and surgical procedures.

Charges were dropped against co-letter writer, Nurse Galle.

When the medical board told Dr. Arafiles about the anonymous complaint, he complained to a friend that he was being harassed by a pair of nurses. Arafiles' friend happened to be Winkler County Sheriff, Robert L. Roberts Jr., who credits Arafiles with saving his life, after a heart attack.

Sheriff Roberts showed his appreciation of the bad doctor's good work, in his case, by obtaining a search warrant to seize the 2 nurses' work computers, where he found the evidence of their crime. That being the whistle blowing letter their consciences told them to write, which they felt they were free to do, living, as they do, or so they thought, in the land of the free.

No one had told the nurses they were not living in the land of the free, they were living in Orwellian Texas. It's a totally different country from the rest of America.

Obviously, this has been an extremely twisted nightmare that has been visited upon these nurses. State and national nurses associations have raised over $40,000 for the defense. Legal experts, operating outside of the Malice in Blunderland zone, say Nurse Mitchell would seem to be protected by Texas whistle-blower laws.

The nurses' lawyers have filled a civil suit in federal court charging the county, hospital, sheriff, doctor and prosecutor with vindictive prosecution and denial of the nurses' First Amendment free speech rights.

Nurse Mitchell's co-conspirator, Nurse Galle, said, "We're just in disbelief that you could be arrested for doing something you had been told your whole career was an obligation."

Nurse Galle, it's not just you and Nurse Mitchell who are shaking their heads in disbelief, heads are shaking in disbelief all over America and the world, over the latest scary stuff to come out of Texas, that common sense would seem to dictate would, should never happen.

But, somehow does.

UPDATE: Video of Dr. Arafiles. Watch it and ask yourself if you want him operating on you.

UPDATE: Read the Texas Medical Board document regarding 2007 malpractice charges against Kermit Dr. Arafiles.

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

Incoming info and borderline threats are turning borderline Orwellian this morning in extremely cold Fort Worth, Texas.

I am living in 2010, but here in Fort Worth it feels like 1984, where the Minister of Propaganda spews out any manner of disinformation, with the vast majority of the population accepting the disinformation without question.

Well, I know I am in a tiny minority and this morning I am setting out in the extreme cold to do myself some investigating about that disinformation. I am going armed.

With a camera. Wish me luck.

This Morning My Mailbox Contained A Tale Of Corruption Along With Some TRWD Corruption

An early Sunday morning, pre-swim, opening of my mailbox rendered what I think I would characterize as serendipitous irony.

A letter from Mary Kelleher, with the envelope boldly in red letting me know that what was inside the envelope was "A Tale of Corruption Told From an Insider's Perspective..."

Also in the mailbox was yet one more poster-sized propaganda mailing from the TRWD incumbents and their mouthpieces, Betsy Price and Mike Moncrief.

In Mary Kelleher's Tale of Corruption she cautions...

VOTER BEWARE 
Now please be forewarned. You can expect to hear some outlandish attacks from people in authority like Mayor Betsy Price, Mike Moncrief, and Kay Granger. I implore you to hold to the facts. You will be told Dallas businessman Monty Bennett of Dallas is trying to steal Fort Worth’s water. NOT TRUE! Monty Bennett is a wealthy businessman who lives in Dallas but he also owns property in Fort Worth and east Texas. Monty is one of many victims of TRWD’s abuse of eminent domain; he just happens to have the financial resources to fight against this abuse.

So, in my mail today I get a warning from Mary Kelleher warning me about the TRWD propaganda which was also in my mailbox.

This latest TRWD propaganda confirms the shamelessness of these ethically challenged miscreants who somehow, in Fort Worth, are seen as legit authority figures.

These Fort Worth authority figures, Betsy and Mike, who Mary warned you about, in this latest propaganda, after their boilerplate attack against the evil Dallas businessman, are quoted saying "Don't be misled by false attacks...."

Oh, the irony.

You really should heed that false attacks warning from Betsy and Mike, but take it as some sort of Freudian slip, where their tortured consciences are warning you not to be misled by their false attacks.

Basically the TRWD incumbents can not run on their record, because that record includes way too many instances of corruption, so they are running against a Dallas Bogeyman, believing, apparently, that Fort Worth voters are stupid and are irrationally paranoid about anything coming from Dallas.

On the reverse side of the propaganda where Betsy and Mike warned us to not be misled by false attacks are their own false attacks (and propaganda) under the Orwellian heading of 6 GOOD REASONS to keep Marty Leonard and Jim Lane PROTECTING OUR LOCAL WATER.

The false attacks (and propaganda) from Betsy and Mike....

Claiming 99% of the money for Marty and Jim's three opponents comes from either the Dallas Businessman Monty Bennett or from outside of Texas.

Not true.

Claiming Bennett has been involved in 7 lawsuits against the TRWD, and to date has lost all of his lawsuits in court.

Where else would one lose a lawsuit? And, not all the cases have been decided. This is what is known as deceptive propaganda. Note that no mention is made of the ongoing Henderson County Grand Jury investigation into TRWD wrongdoing

Claiming Marty and Jim have ensured we have water for Fort Worth and Tarrant County families.

Really? How have these two ensured we have water?

Claiming Marty and Jim have been strong taxpayer watchdogs.

Yes, strong taxpayer watchdogs, if by that one means that these two watched millions of taxpayer dollars get wasted trying to use the courts to take water from Oklahoma. Didn't Marty go along with Jim's taking millions of TRWD taxpayer's dollars to rescue a bankrupt friend by paying way above market value for the bankrupt friend's land on which the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century was built?

Marty and Jim have saved taxpayers millions of dollars through conservation education which has resulted in 104 BILLION gallons of water saved between 2007 and 2013.

The above is so ridiculous I sort of don't know if anything needs to be said to point out the ridiculousness.

Marty and Jim have helped our water board partner with nonprofit groups to expand community use of Gateway Park, Trinity Trails system and Eagle Mountain Park.

How have Marty and Jim helped the water board partner with nonprofit groups in a way which affected Gateway Park? Or the Trinity Trails? I've not been to Eagle Mountain Park. Does that park have modern restroom facilities, with running water? And no outhouses? Marty and Jim's TRWD Boondoggle, currently calling itself Panther Island, for years has had a massive sign installation at Gateway Park touting all the wonders that their cataract clouded vision would bring to Gateway Park, none of which has come to fruition.

But, the signs are nice.

As for that letter from Mary Kelleher which contained the warning about outlandish TRWD incumbent attacks, well turns out I had already read that letter, back on April 15, when it arrived in my email in PDF form.

I blogged about the letter from Mary Kelleher in a blogging titled From The Desk Of Mary Kelleher Why We Need To Elect Bickley & Von Luckner.

Click the link and read the letter, if you want to read a straightforward account about the TRWD from someone who has experienced the corruption up close and very personal.

And don't forget to vote. Early voting begins tomorrow, April 27.......

Our Water Our Future Ironically Delivered By Fort Worth's Former Mayor & Rosie

This morning in the incoming email I found a blog comment commenting on a blogging from the day before yesterday....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Comment From A TRWD Progaganda Shill Has Me Feeling Chesapeake Energy Deja Vu":

Check out the horrible photo editing around the heads of Mayor Betsy & Mayor Mike. Photochop indeed.

http://www.owof.info/

I clicked on the Anonymous link, with no clue what "owof" might be, to find that which you see above, a smiling couple, Betsy Price and Mike Moncrief.

Eventually, I figured out what "owof" is via the copyright blurb at the bottom of the website's one and only page....

© 2015 Our Water, Our Future. Pol. Adv. paid for by Our Water, Our Future PAC. Treasurers: Mike & Rosie Moncrief.

Our Water, Our Future, brought to you by Fort Worth's former mayor and his wife.

The political advertisement paid for by the Our Future PAC is yet one more shameless, shameful propaganda piece raising the bogus specter of Dallas businessman boogeyman, Monty Bennett's, devious, nefarious plot to take over Fort Worth's water by spending millions of dollars.

The propaganda actually cites the equally shameless, shameful Star-Telegram, as if that newspaper is a legitimate news source saying, "As has been extensively reported in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Mr. Bennett wants to take control of our local water board and has already spent an estimated $4 million in election, lobbying and legal costs trying to get control of our local water board."

Extensively reported in the Star-Telegram?

Nothing is extensively reported in the Star-Telegram. And the Star-Telegram's reporting regarding the TRWD board's shenanigans has been particularly weak and one-sided.

Apparently the TRWD board incumbents can not run on their record. And so the Dallas straw man is needed as a bogus issue. The TRWD board incumbents' public relations propaganda people must have done research that has shown them that using the Dallas boogeyman will have traction with those few voters who will bother to vote in the upcoming election.

From the TRWD board incumbents we hear about the evil Dallas businessman spending millions to take control of Fort Worth's water, forcing the TRWD to spend millions to defend itself from the myriad lawsuits filed against them by the evil Dallas businessman.

But, we hear nothing from the TRWD board incumbents about the millions of dollars they caused to be spent suing Oklahoma in a ridiculous attempt to take water from the north side of the Red River.

We hear nothing from the TRWD board incumbents, particularly Jim Lane, about the millions of TRWD dollars spent to buy land from a bankrupt friend of Jim Lane's, with the millions paid being double the market value of the land, some of which was turned into the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century.

We hear nothing from the TRWD board incumbents about the lack of progress of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

How about an explanation from the TRWD board incumbents as to how three simple little bridges being built over dry land can take an amazing four years to build?

Those are just a few examples of the TRWD board incumbents' real record, and that real record is what the voters should be talking about and focused on, rather than giving any credence to propaganda about a Dallas businessman trying to take control of the TRWD board and Fort Worth's water.

Below I will copy all the propaganda from the Our Water, Our Future website for your perusal. See how many lies and ridiculous items of extreme exaggeration you can spot in the following Orwellian propaganda....

WATER IS OUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE
This May’s Tarrant Regional Water Board election is probably one of the most important elections in the history of our city, our region, our future and for generations to come. Truly, our water is our future.

While the rest of Texas has struggled through the sustained drought, our local residents and businesses have benefited from TRWD’s prudent planning and management of our local water supply. In fact, TRWD now owns 4 lakes and has water rights in another 3 lakes across North and East Texas.

HOWEVER, A DALLAS BUSINESSMAN WANTS TO CONTROL OUR LOCAL WATER
Two of TRWD’S Board members are up for re-election this May: Marty Leonard and Jim Lane. Marty and Jim are being opposed by a slate of candidates financed by a Dallas businessman (Monty Bennett).

As has been extensively reported in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Mr. Bennett wants to take control of our local water board and has already spent an estimated $4 million in election, lobbying and legal costs trying to get control of our local water board.

VOTER BEWARE
You may have received some inaccurate information about the Water Board, please know this FALSE information was paid for by Mr. Bennett.

VOTE TO SAVE OUR WATER
Vote FOR Marty Leonard and Jim Lane in the Tarrant Regional Water Board Election on May 9th. Your vote will keep Tarrant County’s water supply safe and secure for current and future generations.

If we let this Dallas businessman get control, our future water supply will be jeopardized.

© 2015 Our Water, Our Future. Pol. Adv. paid for by Our Water, Our Future PAC. 
Treasurers: Mike & Rosie Moncrief.

Lake Wichita Memorial Day With Big Brother & Long-Nosed Gars

 Last week I read 1984, you know, that dystonian novel by George Orwell that sort of missed its future foretelling mark when 1984 became the actual year, with 1984 not being quite as bleak in reality as Orwell foresaw it being.

And then over three decades after 1984 George Orwell's book was back being a book store best seller, along with borrowing waiting lists in libraries across America, and other parts of the world where the literate found themselves appalled to find the American president to be an Orwellian nightmare of doublespeak, doublethink and totally doubleplusungood.

The last couple days I have been having myself some computer aggravation. Every time I think I have solved the problem I find I am erroneous.

Feeling I had reached some sort of computer plateau I decided to take a break and join the throngs of Memorial Day memorializers at Lake Wichita for some sun time whilst enjoying the cooling breeze blowing from the lake.

I was not long at Lake Wichita, atop Lake Wichita Dam, when I saw that which you see above, which is the reason I mentioned 1984, because when I saw that which you see above I thought to myself it looked like what a 2017 version of 1984's Big Brother might look like.

Soon after seeing the Lake  Wichita Big Brother I saw the bucolic scene you see below.

These fisher people are fishing near the ruins of the Lake Wichita Pavilion.  All which remains of the pavilion, which succumbed  to fire in the 1950s,  are the wood pilings you see the fishing pole pointing towards.

As you can see there are also non-fisher people wandering about under the watchful eye of the Lake Wichita Big Brother.

Another view of the Lake Wichita floating dock. That dock looks nice and stable today, but if one visits it on a windy day, when whitecaps wave across the lake, the ride on this floating dock can be sea sickness inducing. The last time I was on this dock when it was in rocking mode it reminded me of being on the Port Townsend/Keystone Ferry ferrying from the Olympic Peninsula to Whidbey Island during a stormy tidal change, with the ferry rocking so much walking was extremely difficult.

As you can see fishing and walking was not the only activity at Lake Wichita this Memorial Day. The people you see here are on the Circle Trail  on top of Lake Wichita Dam, heading north away from the Lake Wichita Big Brother.

Okay, I have mentioned the Lake Wichita Big Brother a couple times. Now let's see what it is this Big Brother is looking out from.

A fishy sign. Can you find Big Brother?

This Fish of Lake Wichita sign identifies all the fish which live, or try to, in this lake.

I have never seen anyone swimming in Lake Wichita. I know in the past, long ago, swimming in this lake was a popular summer thing to do. A streetcar system delivered  people to the lake. Long ago Lake Wichita was a popular resort-like destination, with multiple attractions in addition to fishing and swimming.

There is an ongoing attempt to revive Lake Wichita and restore it to some semblance of its former glory.

Methinks this effort should be accelerated.

I have seen the Lake Wichita Revitalization plans. If those plans come to fruition it will be a real good thing.  I do not understand why there is not a more vigorous effort to bring about this lake's revitalization. I've heard other towns in America fund such developments by having its citizens approve of some sort of funding  mechanism, rather than rely on car washes and selling memorial bricks to raise money.

If Lake Wichita does get revitalized and swimming again becomes doable I sort of would like to know a couple of those Fish of Lake Wichita are no longer in the lake. Like the long-nosed gars. Or the channel catfish. The other Fish of Lake Wichita look harmless.

I have never liked fish with whiskers. Or long sharp pointy noses...

The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Gateway Park Master Plan Propaganda

Today I tried to pedal the Gateway Park FWMBA mountain bike trail, but quickly tired of its semi-muddy state and having to stop to clear fallen limbs off the trail.

Yesterday's storm hit Gateway Park harder than it did at my location, only 4 miles away. I experienced about 15 minutes of wind and lightning, with rain of an amount insufficient to leave lingering wetness.

The storm hit way harder in north Fort Worth, knocking out power to thousands, some still without power today. That would quickly turn very unpleasant, with no A/C.

After bailing on the mountain bike trail I pedaled the paved trail, where it was easier to dodge fallen limbs. Being on the paved trail brought me to the Fort Woof Dog Park and its forest of Trinity River Vision Boondoggle signage.

That Gateway Park Trinity River Vision Boondoggle signage is really impressive. If you've not seen it and you're in the neighborhood, it is worth a stop at Fort Woof to check out the signs. This is one of the coolest examples of Orwellian propaganda it has ever been my personal pleasure to experience.

The Gateway Park Master Plan sign, you see on the left, has some of the best of the propaganda. I'll copy it, almost verbatim, below...

The Gateway Park Master Plan is an exciting component of Fort Worth Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. The 1,000 acre park will be filled with new community-requested recreational amenities, making it one of the nation's largest urban-programmed parks. With the planting of over 75,000 of J.D. Granger's Magic Trees and the restoration of the original river channel, the park will transform into a natural setting the entire region can enjoy. The project is expected to spur economic growth around the park and will connect the East and Southeast neighborhoods of Fort Worth to the Trinity River corridor.

Also on this sign we learn that the Gateway Park Recreation Components are new soccer and baseball/softball fields, site work for disc golf and mountain bike course, outdoor covered basketball courts, expanded trail system (15 miles of trails), splash park, dog park expansion, amphitheater site work and grading to provide the initial infrastructure to create outdoor music venue for Fort Worth, full loop equestrian trail facility, water sports, fishing, rowing, kayak and canoe with 4 white water elements.

Along with those Recreation Components we also learn about the Ecosystem Restoration with the aforementioned 75,000 Magic Trees, gravel pits cleaned up to create a beautiful wetland environment, the old landfill will be compacted and graded for citizens desired recreational needs, lake and wetland creation in the old drying beds of the Riverside Waste Water Treatment Plant and clean up and return water to the historic Riverside Oxbow.

_____________________________________

Where do I start?

Community requested recreational amenities? Have we not seen this odd verbiage previously with the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle? How does the community go about making these requests?

One of the nation's largest urban-programmed parks? What is an urban-programmed park?

Restore the original river channel? Where will that be?

The park will transform into a natural setting? I don't know of many natural settings with disc golf, soccer and baseball fields, covered basketball courts, dog parks and amphitheaters.

This project will connect East and Southeast Fort Worth to the Trinity River corridor? Really? How?

An old landfill will be compacted and graded for citizens desired recreational needs? There is that odd TRVB verbiage again. I have no idea where this old landfill in Gateway Park is. Are we talking about that methane gas spewing mound that is east of Gateway Park, on the other side of the Trinity River?

It is all just way too perplexing. And when is all this magic going to take place? Fort Worth does not seem able to maintain Gateway Park as it is. Washed out paved trails remain blocked by cyclone fence. Boardwalks remain closed, boarded up eyesores.

And that murdered armadillo still lays on the ground a few feet from where it was shot.

Experiencing Malice In Blunderland In Fort Worth Texas

Reading FW Weekly and TxSharon this morning has me aggravated.

The FW Weekly aggravation comes from the Metropolis section, which further documented the bad behavior of the corrupt state of Texas agency that calls itself the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, an agency name which is pretty much Orwellian double-speak, due to the fact that the quality of the environment does not seem to be much of a concern to this commission.

The TCEQ seems more concerned with helping the Barnett Shale natural gas industry cover up their dirty deeds and doings.

In the FW Weekly article we learn about the different testing results, and different methodology used by the TCEQ and the little town of DISH. A little Texas town that has been ravaged, in many more ways than one, by the basically un-regulated natural gas company Blitzkrieg that has damaged lives and livelihoods in a once peaceful small Texas town.

The town of DISH has an actual, real, serve the people who elected him, type of mayor, unlike Fort Worth's corrupt Mayor Mike Moncrief, who was installed by the gas industry to help facilitate the gas driller's massive Blitzkrieg on Fort Worth. The natural gas industry pays Moncrief over $600,000 a year to be their in the henhouse fox.

DISH Mayor Calvin Tillman has been fighting back, trying to save his town and the people who live there. Eminent domain was abused in DISH when the gas drillers decided it would be a perfect location for gas compressors, which are jet engine noise level contraptions. To feed the compressors, pipelines had to be laid. So, land that people used for their livelihoods was, well, basically stolen, using the corrupt Texas legal system to do so.

I sure use the word "corrupt" a lot. I never think I'm exaggerating when I do so.

After awhile, people in DISH started not feeling as well as they did before the Natural Gas Blitzkrieg hit their town. DISH paid to have their air tested. The results showed bad, bad things were in the air they were breathing.

And now, gas industry legal lackeys have sent the town of DISH some sort of legalistic, threatening letter, the theme of which seems to be making all sorts of claims of things DISH has not done correctly.

Visit Texas Sharon to read what Mayor Tillman has to say about this latest bullying by the corrupt gas industry thugs and read the thug's intimidating letter.

We are down the Rabbit Hole here, where black is white, yes is no, wrong is right. But, it's not Alice in Wonderland, it's Malice in Blunderland.

I've been in Texas around 10 years now. In all my years of living on the West Coast I don't recollect anything ever happening that appalled me like the things I've seen happen here in Texas.

A corporation wants a new headquarters? Boot 100s of Fort Worth low income people out of their homes and build a new Radio Shack Headquarters, that Radio Shack could not afford.

A mall needs some new parking space? Abuse eminent domain to take Hurst citizen's homes for the benefit of a private business known as the Northeast Mall.

A football team wants a new stadium? Abuse eminent domain, in Arlington, to boot more than 1,000 people from their homes and apartments and businesses. And bulldoze the homes before the victims have had their day in court.

Some goofballs get the hare-brained idea that ruining the confluence of two forks of the Trinity River to make a little lake and an un-needed flood diversion channel? Abuse eminent domain, taking homes and businesses, for a "public" project that the public has never voted on, known as Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision or Trinity Uptown Project or Fort Worth's Latest Boondoggle.

A company called Chesapeake Energy, run by a man many believe to be a lying shyster, named Aubrey McClendon, wants to run a non-odorized natural gas pipeline under a street called Carter Street, in Fort Worth. The Carter Street homeowners object, but one by one, under the threat of the abuse of eminent domain, they all give in to the strong arm tactics, all but one man, Steve Doeung.

And what does the City of Fort Worth do? Does the city tell Chesapeake Energy they must find a different route, and pipe only odorized gas. No, the City of Fort Worth sends in a gang of Gestapo Stormtroopers, in the form of code inspectors and Fort Worth Police, to raid Steve Doeung's house.

Where is the outrage here in Blunderland? Okay, there is some outrage, I mean I'm outraged. Texas Sharon is outraged. Don Young is outraged. The Queen of Wink is Royally outraged. Steve Doeung is outraged. 100s, maybe 1000s are outraged.

Why is the Environmental Protection Agency not outraged by what is happening in DISH. And elsewhere in Texas?

Has the Environmental Protection Agency been co-opted somehow, like all the other government agencies in Texas that are supposed to look out for the welfare of the people, but instead look out for the welfare of those who exploit and abuse the people?

What became of Dr. Al Armendariz? Why does the EPA not order a moratorium on gas drilling activities until the issue of pollution, both of water and air, are properly vetted to everyone's satisfaction, not just the satisfaction of the drillers?

I tell you, all this Malice here in Blunderland is the most perplexing stuff I have ever witnessed. I never dreamed, when I moved to Texas, that I would somehow manage to one day find myself being terrorized by White Trucks.

P.S. The Star-Telegraph has blogged about the Star-Telegram's article today which reverses previous articles which followed the gas industry and their lackey, Mayor Mike Moncrief's party line, that being nothing harmful is entering the air from the thousands of gas wells.

Big Brother, Sirens, Signs, Sprouts & Near Misses

If it is Wednesday I probably had to be in Southlake today. Which my one longtime reader might guess likely meant I went to Sprouts Farmers Market when I was up north.

My one longtime reader would be right. I had my camera in my pocket today, so I took a picture of the TEXUS TOMATOES sign I see each week when I walk into Sprouts and get a grocery cart.

I like the signs in Sprouts. There are several of them.

Speaking of which, every single Sprouts shopper that I saw come in today, pulled off one of the sanitizer paper towels and wiped down their grocery cart handle. I've seen a few random instances of this before, but never like this. I am almost easily swayed into a herd mentality, so I wiped my cart down for the first time.

I must back up to what happened before I got into Sprouts. I was heading north on Davis Boulevard. Sprouts is at the northeast corner of Davis & Southlake Boulevards. As I neared that intersection the loudest siren I have ever heard went off. It was loud, with the windows up and with Rush Limbaugh in full loud blowhard mode. It was rock concert from hell loud with the windows down.

The siren was a steady sound, not like a tornado siren, but that is what I thought it might be, the weather being a bit unsettled and T-Storms mentioned as possible. The sound seemed to be coming from every direction. After what seemed like minutes of this ear-piercing noise it finally quieted down to silence.

And then the weird thing happened. A voice, just as loud as the siren, started speaking, "This has been a test of the emergency warning system. This has been a test of the early warning system." And then, finally, silence.

Where were the speakers located that this voice was coming from? How large an area do they have wired in Southlake to broadcast like this? It was such a weird Orwellian Big Brother moment. I asked a few people if they knew where the sound came from. No one knew. It's like it came from everywhere, as if it was broadcast, perfect use of that word, from above.

The siren warning incident and Big Brother speaking had my nerves on edge while I did my hunt for stuff at Sprouts. I was only in there about 20 minutes.

On the way back, heading south on Davis, suddenly it started up again, more sirens, only this was an emergency vehicle, followed by a fire truck. Less than a minute after almost getting hit by a firetruck I saw a longhorn I've long wanted to take a picture of. I started to slow up, saw the driveway entry coming up quicker than I thought, hit the brakes, not realizing there was a car a bit close behind me. That driver seemed to handle it okay and a rear ender was obviously avoided or I would have already mentioned it.

Anyway, that's been some of my day today, up at 4 am, no newspaper, pool closed due to all that rainwater of a couple days ago requiring a shock treatment. Impending doom weather-wise, with ultra-high humidity and temps in the 90s.

Tommy Lee Jones and the Barnett Shale

Several energy companies, including one called Chesapeake, have been drilling holes in north Texas for several years now, tapping into this thing called Barnett Shale and using a controversial water process to fracture the shale and release natural gas.

As the drilling advanced right into the heart of the Dallas/Fort Worth urban zone there began to be an ever louder level of protest, particularly when places like Tandy Hills Park were threatened.

The threat to Tandy Hills led to the forming of a group known as the Eastside Rabblerousers. The group grew ever larger and ever louder. They began to help people all over D/FW fight back against the gas drillers. The main leader of the Eastside Rabblerousers, Don Young, along with others, started a well done website to help them wise people up to the drilling issue.

The Eastside Rabblerouser's success led to what is happening now. It's one of the strangest things I've seen. The energy companies, mostly Chesapeake Energy, for several months now, have been running a massive Orwellian, Sovietesque, Goebbels Worthy Propaganda Campaign.

Many of Fort Worth's public transit buses have been totally covered with signs saying things like "Thanks Barnett Shale for our Strong Economy." This when the city of Fort Worth has had to make massive layoffs of city employees due to a huge budget shortfall.

Dozens upon dozens of Chesapeake billboards litter the landscape almost on the scale of their drilling rigs. At some points on the freeway there are more than one Chesapeake billboard in a row hammering home the propaganda. The billboards repeat the messages on the buses, things like "Friends of Barnett Shale" and "Barnett Shale Helps Our Schools."

The propaganda slogans are repeated in full page ads in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, almost daily.

And then a couple weeks ago, new Chesapeake billboards appeared with actor Tommy Lee Jones being a shill, like you can see above with him saying, "Let's get behind the Barnett."

So, our lead Eastside Rabblerouser decided that maybe Tommy Lee Jones needed to be wised up as to what it is he is shilling for. This led to a letter writing campaign, with the letters sent to Tommy Lees Jones' residence in Texas.

Don Young sent me a copy of his letter to Tommy Lee Jones. It is a very good letter. I'll paste the last 4 paragraphs and you can go here to read the entire enlightening letter.

I’ll end this letter by telling you about the latest news from Chesapeake: I recently learned that they are proposing an 18" gas pipeline that will run through the front yards of four blocks of a residential street near my home. This is a quiet, well-established neighborhood.

Thanks to Chesapeake, nearly every tree on that side of the street will be cut down and new trees can never be planted over the pipeline. Some of those trees are over 100 years old. Most of those homes have kids and old folks living there who will miss those trees. Homeowners will never be able to recoup the value of their homes that sit 4 feet above a disaster waiting to happen.

This unbelievable scenario is no longer an isolated incident in Fort Worth. Why? Because companies like Chesapeake want to make more money and their ad campaign featuring you, Mr. Jones, is helping them do it.

I hope you will accept my offer to give you an unvarnished tour of Fort Worth in the near future. I want you to see with your own eyes how companies like Chesapeake Energy are turning Fort Worth into a Dirty Ol’ Town.

Sincerely,
Don Young
Founder, Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area