Good Government: Fort Worth Style

The Mayor of Fort Worth is an oil man named Mike Moncrief. Fort Worth sits on top of this stuff called Barnett Shale. Barnett Shale can be turned into natural gas. There are several natural gas drillers drilling holes in Fort Worth. It is very controversial. But some people make a lot of money from the hole poking, so all is good.

The Mayor of Fort Worth owns an interest in several of the natural gas drillers. Yet, unlike in other jurisdictions in the democracy known as America, in Fort Worth an elected official is allowed to influence issues in which he might have what is known as a vested interest. In other words, in Fort Worth you can stand to profit from voting a certain way, thus possibly skewing the principle known as fairness, and no one calls foul.

Well, no one who matters calls foul. I'm a Yankee and my opinion does not count.

Currently the most notorious of the natural gas drillers, an enterprise called Chesapeake Energy, owned by the corrupt thief, Aubrey McClendon, who stole the Sonics from Seattle and moved them to Oklahoma City, wants to poke 7 more holes in Fort Worth ground so they can extract natural gas from a resting ground known as the Greenwood Cemetery.

The neighborhood surrounding Greenwood Cemetery is split on the drilling issue. So, there was a well attended city council meeting this past Tuesday to discuss and allow citizen input regarding Chesapeake's request for a waiver so they can go to work under a cemetery.

There were 2 letters to the editor in this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, that being the paper I no longer pay for, but glance at online, mostly to make sure I don't miss anything in Fort Worth that is causing waves of green envy outbreaks in the rest of the nation.

The first letter was title "Good Government." The second letter was titled "Bad Government." I suspect a paid shill working for Fort Worth's Ruling Junta wrote the Good Government letter.

Below are the 2 letters....

Good Government

I took great pride in seeing democracy in action Tuesday night at the City Council. Our mayor and council, but especially Mayor Mike Moncrief, were magnificent.

They spent almost three hours discussing granting a waiver for a permit for Chesapeake Energy to drill seven gas wells in the area of Greenwood Cemetery and Rockwood Park. The wells would be in the Greenwood Cemetery area and would benefit the cemetery, the Crestwood neighborhood and Rockwood Park.

The council ultimately approved drilling with certain stipulations, but how they reached that conclusion was most impressive.

This action had been approved by the Parks and Community Services Advisory Board and addressed twice before by the council. Every council member had toured the site.

Tuesday, the council sat through almost two hours of resident comments along with a presentation by Chesapeake Energy.

Every resident who wanted to speak was allowed to speak.

Prior to the presentations, Moncrief explained the “house rules” that everyone had to be respectful and not make personal attacks.

Three times he cautioned speakers that they were about to cross that line. Moncrief was definitely in control, respectful of everyone, kept it moving and injected lots of humor.

One person said he lived close enough to Rockwood Park Drive that he could spit on it from his house. Moncrief jokingly asked him just how far he could spit.

The council, especially Councilman Carter Burdette, spent a tremendous amount of time and effort evaluating alternatives and trying to determine the best course of action. We should all be proud of our mayor and council for such outstanding service to our city.

— Glen Estes, Fort Worth

Bad Government

As a longtime resident of Fort Worth, I regret to admit that I have never attended a City Council meeting until Tuesday night and I must say that I was very disappointed.

One item on the agenda was regarding gas drilling in residential neighborhoods and there were many people in attendance. They were cautioned to be respectful of everyone — a very valid request.

I did not realize that this request meant that one could not voice any criticism of any kind, however. Mayor Mike Moncrief corrected those who used a “negative” verb with regard to the gas drillers and then silenced the first person who made a comment that indicated the city was giving the gas-drilling entities free water and that he would like some free water.

We live in America and still have First Amendment rights, but I guess that doesn’t apply to Fort Worth City Council meetings. Could it be the mayor realizes that many of us who live here feel as if the city has sold out to the gas-drilling companies, especially Chesapeake, and is afraid to hear from us?

The mayor and council members were elected to uphold the laws and oversee the good of city residents, not protect the interests of any one corporation or industry.

(By the way, I support drilling in the Barnett Shale, but I want the needs of the community considered first and foremost.)

Moncrief should recognize that the right to free speech is not his to revoke.

— Cheryl Andrews, Fort Worth

Is anyone but me on the Clyde Picht bandwagon? For the enlightenment of you non-Fort Worthers, fascinated as you are by the most fascinating city in America, Clyde Picht is running against Mayor Mike in an election that will quickly be upon us. Clyde Picht is given a ghost's chance in Hell of winning. In Fort Worth you have to have the support of the Ruling Junta and the Good Old Boy Network to become mayor. Most of the people who might benefit from having someone like Clyde Picht be their mayor, don't vote. The majority not voting is what keeps the Ruling Junta in power. It's a pretty sweet system. And it pays pretty well, too.