Fort Worth Judge Rules Chesapeake Is Allowed Right Of Way Under Carter Avenue As Landowner Loses Court Battle & Is Sentenced To 10 Years Hard Labor

I've got so many things perplexing me right now. How does Chesapeakegate sound for a Blog Forum about Texas Eminent Domain Abuse?

One week ago, tomorrow, I was in downtown Fort Worth for something called the CARO Rally, meaning Carter Avenue Rescue Operation Rally. I saw quite a few people at this rally. Many held protest signs. I listened to some speakers speechify using an electronic amplification device. There was a table with goodies, like bananas and muffins.

I am sure I did not imagine this. I have photo documentation. But, a few minutes ago I got email from my investigator who goes by Big Ed, asking me "did you see this?"

I had not seen "this."

"This" was in something called Pegasus News. The Pegasus website described "this" as "CONTENT FROM OUR FRIENDS OVER AT FWCANDO."

The headline for the article is "Photo gallery: Carter Avenue residents protest Chesapeake Energy's pipeline plans."

Seems to me there were a lot of non-Carter Avenue residents also protesting.

And then the sub-headline said "A Carter Avenue landowner lost a court hearing on Thursday. The judge ruled that Chesapeake is allowed access to the right-of-way under Carter Avenue."

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram also had Chesapeake winning in court last Thursday. In Fort Worth Star-Telegram world, the CARO rally did not happen. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram article was so misleading, the prime player, in that story, was getting messages of condolence and worry from friends and relatives who only got their "news" from the Star-Telegram.

And now, today, the closest Fort Worth has to a real newspaper of record, FW Weekly, came out with its latest issue. Steve Doeung's court appearance on Thursday did not take place, nor did the CARO rally, as in there is no mention of either in Fort Worth's alternative newspaper.

Now, I know that it is impossible for newspapers to cover every little thing that goes on in these parts. And protests with sign waving protesters happen all the time here. No big deal. Concerned citizens filling a courtroom? Happens all the time in these parts. It's not news....

A Very Very Short Wednesday Texas Thunderstorm With A Few Balls Of Hail

About a half hour ago, some time after 10am, the predicted thunderstorm arrived. Along with hail.

I do not have a good view from my location, so I quickly headed over to Miss Puerto Rico's balcony, hoping to get pictures of some good lightning bolts and big balls of hail.

But, by the time I got to my photo perch, the thunder had stopped booming, the hail had stopped falling. All I was left with was a dark sky and rain.

I waited for about 10 minutes for some fresh incoming flashes, but all I got was continued rain. So, I left my Thunderstorm Observation Post and came back here.

This was the shortest Thunderstorm I have yet to see in Texas. And now it is sort of brightening up out there. Is this storm now over for the day? The National Weather Service has the Severe Thunderstorm Watch continuing til 3 in the afternoon.

The birds are back in full chirp mode, a clear indication that the storm has passed.

A Tale Of Two Cities: Seattle Gets A $5 Billion Floating Bridge While Fort Worth Gets a $1 Billion Little Lake

If I remember right I've annoyed a person or two when I compare something in Seattle to something in Fort Worth. It is only natural that I would make note of things that seem so different, to me, in the two towns, because they are the two plus-sized towns with which I am most familiar.

One really big difference between Seattle and Fort Worth is the way public works projects come about.

Currently Fort Worth's biggest public works project is building a little lake and an unneeded flood diversion channel, obliterating the historic confluence of the West and Clear branches of the Trinity River. This project goes by various names. Mainly, Trinity Uptown Project, Trinity River Vision or Fort Worth's Latest Boondoggle.

Fort Worth's Latest Public Works Boondoggle is using eminent domain to take property for this public works project about which the public has little say and no vote.

Meanwhile, up in Washington, on Monday the State Senate sent to Governor Gregoire SB 6292 for her signature. This bill approves the almost $5 billion State Highway 520 Floating Bridge replacement. The 520 Floating Bridge is one of 2 that cross Lake Washington.

Seattle has a lot of lakes, so there is no need to have a public works project to build a fake lake. The existing 520 Floating Bridge is about 60 years old. It's near the end of its lifespan and needs to be replaced before Mother Nature sinks it. Mother Nature has previously sank 2 other Washington Floating Bridges.

The new 520 Floating Bridge is going to be quite a bit bigger than the current one and will fix several problems that have been a bottleneck for way too long. The final routing has yet to be determined. Eminent domain may need to be used to route part of the new road through the area made famous in Sleepless in Seattle, that being an area on Lake Washington with a lot of houseboats.

Now, as I read the article about Washington's new Floating Bridge what is it that really popped out at me as being way different than the way things are done in Fort Worth? Well, in Seattle it's sort of a joke/truism, that before anything gets done, everyone who wants to have a say, gets to.

I'll copy a paragraph from the Seattle P-I article by way of illustrating the HUGE difference between these 2 towns.

"Critics from business and labor - as well as Eastside city leaders - have complained that the debate over how to replace 520 has already taken too long and it's time to move forward. Powerful Seattle neighborhood groups have hired an attorney as they continue to press their case."

Did you spot what I am focusing on? "Powerful Seattle neighborhood groups...".

I can tell you what would have happened in Seattle if something occurred as absurd as a private company abusing eminent domain to run a non-odorized natural gas pipeline under a Seattle neighborhood. I can tell you, it just would not happen.

If Carter Avenue were in Seattle, in a Seattle neighborhood called Meadowbrook, the powerful Meadowbrook Neighborhood would have collectively come together to demand the pipeline project cease. The powerful Seattle Meadowbrook Neighborhood would have pooled their resources to hire legal help to help Carter Avenue.

I have seen time and again, in Seattle, where a group will band together in some common cause. Object to Paul Allen's plan to make a sort of Seattle Central Park running from Lake Union to downtown? Stopped by forcing the issue on to a ballot. Object to a voter approved plan to build a new monorail line? Force another vote. Five elections later the monorail is dead.

Is Seattle better or worse off than Fort Worth due to having all this citizen input and participation? Well, if you've ever been to Seattle you know the answer to that one.

No one could get away with shoving down the voter's throats, in Seattle, something as goofy as Fort Worth's Town Lake Boondoggle.

Did Paul Allen give up on his Seattle Central Park plan? Not really, it just sort of morphed into something else, as in a re-vitalized South Lake Union and things like SLUT (South Lake Union Transit). Fort Worth sent a task force to Seattle to check out some of those South Lake Union developments.

So, is it too late for the Meadowbrook Neighborhood to turn itself into a powerful Seattle-like neighborhood? It really is not just Carter Avenue that is under attack and facing the danger of a potentially explosive pipeline. The streets running parallel to Carter Avenue are also in harm's way. Streets like Bomar & Scott Avenue.

It would take a very small donation from the neighbors of the Meadowbrook Neighborhood to raise enough money to hire legal help. I really think this is the time and this is the issue where the people of Fort Worth buck it up and start exercising their rights like Americans in other parts of America do. Like Seattle.

Severe Thunderstorm Watch For North Texas & Other Woes

It is early Wednesday and already I am having a bad day. I guess I was due for one of those. I think my bad day may have started last night when I spent way too much time with various This, That and the other Thing-Gates, in the search for a good name for a blog.

By morning the gate scandal had cleared up and settled down to being CarterAveGate. Not my first preference, but one really needs to have a good scandal name to go with a good scandal, so this will do.

In the middle of the night WeatherBug started chirping with one of its dire weather warnings, even though I've have tried over and over again to set WeatherBug to being silent all 24 hours of the day. I got out of bed and turned off the speakers. This morning, when I saw WeatherBug flashing, I clicked on the little pest to learn the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center has scheduled a Severe Thunderstorm, today, for us here in North Texas.

The Thunderstorm Watch lasts til 3 this afternoon. I'm heading up to Southlake around noon. I'm guessing I'll be seeing some thunderbolts.

The past 48 hours, give or take a few, I've been miserable with stinging, watery eyes, drippy nasal congestion and other symptoms symptomatic of a cold. Only this is no cold. This morning I took an antihistamine. This seems to have helped.

And then I had an accident on my way to the pool this morning. I got mail out of the mailbox, that went well. Then as I walked towards the pool, I do not know how it happened, but suddenly I tripped and fell to the ground, scraping my right knee and twisting my left ankle.

It hurt so bad I was not able to stand up, at first. I thought I was going to have to crawl back here. Then I tried to stand again and managed to remain vertical. The first few steps were very painful, and then the pain seemed to be melting away. By the time I got in the pool and hot tub my aches and pains were much less painful.

The Severe Thunderstorm Warning makes mention of potential BIG HAIL, but no mention of potential tornado danger.

Oh, I forgot to mention, in addition to all my other misery I got a miserable comment to my blogging yesterday about waddling around Veterans Park, with the comment coming from Mayor Mike Moncrief and his co-hort in crime, Aubrey McClendon, telling me the weather is going to keep me getting ever fatter, keeping me from going to any more silly rallies. They actually called me Lardboy. That hurt my feelings an awful lot.

Waddling In Arlington's Veterans Park On A Balmy Tuesday In Texas

As you can it is a beautiful blue sky winter Tuesday in Texas today.

75 degrees, windows open.

Sunday and Monday, rain prevented, well, made unpleasant, trying to do anything outdoors. I think all this bad weather caused sloth is part of what may be behind my out of control weight gain. I think I mentioned earlier today, or maybe it was yesterday, that I've blimped up to 210.

So, today I was in Arlington, which meant it was convenient to waddle my hefty girth on the trails in Veterans Park. I need to do a lot of waddling to melt away these extra 40 pounds I'm lugging around.

I need to lose all this lard before it's swimming season and I'm out in public in a swimming suit. This morning in I was in a swimming suit and swimming, but I was not out in public, as in, no one saw me looking like a bleached white beached whale. With all this added adipose tissue I'm thinking I likely am able to float quite easily. Maybe I'll give that a try in the morning.

All the extra insulative adipose tissue may be what makes it so easy to get into cold water.

Anyway, I am having a happy day. I'm a very simple person and it does not take much to make me happy. Blue sky usually is all it takes.

Anonymous Comments About Steve Doeung, Bad Reporting & The Cartergate Scandal

My favorite blog commenter, the Ubiquitous Anonymous, has been real busy lately making a lot of real good comments, some too good not to repeat in a fresh blogging, like right now.

The first comment from Anonymous was inspired the by picture you see here, of Steve Doeung heading up the Tarrant County Courthouse steps, last Thursday, while a crowd of supporters rallied around him.

The second comment from Anonymous was also about what took place last Thursday, commenting on a blogging I titled "Cartergate, The Star-Telegram & Other Fort Worth Texas Scandals."

The first Anonymous comment....

"What a symbolic photograph--poor little man climbing the steps determined to assert his precious rights (and for his neighbors and nation, based on his many statements and actions) to where "power" awaits him, in the forms of armed court guards, tailor-suited lawyers wheeling in file boxes (not sure if there's anything in having to do with this little case but looked mighty impressive, though), and a stern judge staring down at him from the above in the courtroom. However, the picture shows a man walking up to face "power" knowing that the POWER of the PEOPLE and the power of the American Way (as symbolized by the flag and sign held proudly by determined and supportive fellow citizens) were with him. Too bad Norman Rockwell is not around to memorialize this very American scene. KEEP SHOWING THIS AND OTHER PICTURES BECAUSE CHK, THE CITY, AND THE STAR-TELEGRAM DON'T WANT THE PEOPLE TO SEE THEM--for obvious reasons. If there were a picture of Steve shaking his fist in defiance at the CHK's Tower of Power (formerly the Pier 1 Building)."

And the second Anonymous comment...

"We were inside the courthouse too but couldn't get in due to the courtroom being too crowded (at least that's what the two armed security/bailiffs standing guard at the front of the courtroom said anyway). We did hang around long enough to watch as about two dozen giddy people came out of the courtroom chattering excitedly in small groups. We couldn't help but notice that the two fancy-dressing men hauling file boxes went to a corner and spoke 10-15 minutes with a bearded man who was scribbling down notes of what they said. The same bearded man then appeared to ask Steve one quick question as he made his way out of the area. He sure did not appear to be interested in what Steve or anyone else there had to say. Two tv stations' camera men and one tv reporter hung around patiently to interview other people and eventually Steve himself. But we didn't see any other reporters/journalists around. Good thing you were there, Durango. keep up the good work and keep calling out these so-called journalists and news reporters b/c they can and should do better. "

The Bluest Skies I've Ever Seen Looking Out My Fort Worth Window

We have had, yet again, a return to blue sky here in my zone of North Texas called Fort Worth.

All winter long, for the most part, when I'd check the temperature here in the morning and then go up to Washington, via the Seattle P-I, more often than not there would be at least a 20 degree difference, with it being warmer in the Pacific Northwest than Texas.

The past few days the temperature difference has reversed back to the norm, as in this morning, when I first checked the temperature here, it was 53, while it was freezing, at 31, in Seattle.

Today it is scheduled to get to 75 here. Yesterday rain kept me from my usual aerobic escape. Today I plan to go to Veterans Park in Arlington and then to Chinatown.

I am still being perplexed by mysterious weight gain. This morning I hit a new high of 210. I am now closing in on my all time high of 217, reached in February of 2004 during a 10 day stay in Tacoma which including a 10 hours layover in Phoenix, getting drug McDonald's for All You Can Eat, then to a Happy Hour with way too many appetizers and then on to an In & Out Burger joint where I had 2 In & Out burgers. By the time I got on the plane I felt was going to pop open.

This morning WeatherBug started chirping with a National Weather Service warning that there is a potential for wildfires. Huh? It rained a lot yesterday, downpouring at times.

The picture on the right is the same view as this morning's, looking out from my patio balcony. Only yesterday's view was looking through a very heavy downpour.

I must maximize my enjoyment of today's blue sky and balmy temperature. Tomorrow we return to rain and thunderstorms.

Let Judge Sprinkle Know What You Think About Fort Worth's Cartergate Scandal

In the picture you are looking at Steve Doeung heading up the Tarrant County Courthouse steps during the CARO Rally last Thursday.

Yesterday, or the day before yesterday, I opined that I thought Chesapeake Energy should be made to buy, outright, at fair market value, plus a bit extra, any property under which Chesapeake wants to run a non-odorized natural gas pipeline.

Anonymous on Scott Avenue, with Scott Avenue being the street due north of Carter Avenue, commented about how I thought Eminent Domain should be properly abused on Carter Avenue.

Anonymous Scott Avenue's comment was so good and had such a good suggestion I figured the comment needed to be blogged about. And so I am.

Below is what Anonymous Scott Avenue had to say....

As a homeowner on Scott Avenue, I presented that option at City Council when this all first started going down.

The problem is that Carter Avenue is not the only street affected. This pipeline will endanger people for a large area including at least three city blocks on either side of the pipeline.

This is not an option. Chesapeake does not want the public relations nightmare of the nightly news showing homes being torn down to build their pipeline.

A more realistic approach at this point is to begin an email campaign to Judge Sprinkle at vgsprinkle@tarrantcounty.com to respectfully ask him not to sign the Judgment.

Steve's easement is no longer "necessary" for this pipeline and that would be the only reason for signing this Judgment. CHK says it is only needed for a "backup" now. We can only win this battle in the court of public opinion. It is time for the Judge to hear from us directly, in a respectful manner, on this issue.

Cartergate, The Star-Telegram & Other Fort Worth Texas Scandals

A few days ago I got an email with the subject line "Mike Lee responds."

Mike Lee is a Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter who had written the article in the Star-Telegram about last Thursday's Steve Doeung date in Tarrant County Court.

Many of the people who eye witnessed the courtroom proceedings were appalled at the disconnect between what they eye witnessed and what they read in Fort Worth's sadly corrupted main newspaper of record.

The emailer to whom Mike Lee responded had asked why there was no reference to the CARO rally in the article.

Mike Lee responded with...

"I put that in the story, and it evidently got cut out to make the story fit on the page. There are 3-4 paragraphs missing from the end, too."

The emailer, whom Mike Lee responded to, then opined...

"IMO it is wrong to attack a reporter like Mike Lee who works hard to understand and communicate the issues. He just works at the ST and has no control over what the publisher decides to print. Our slings and arrows should be pointed at the publisher not the messenger."

Now, maybe I am way off base here, but if a reporter does not accurately report something I'm not quite seeing how it is that that reporter works hard to understand and communicate the issues. Key elements of the story were cut so it could fit on the page?

After I listed several points that were missing from Mike Lee's article I described him as "The Fort Worth Star-Telegram pseudo reporter/Chesapeake Energy shill, Mike Lee."

I called him a Chesapeake shill because, though Mike Lee left out many key points, he did manage to include and his publisher deemed needed to be included, unlike the CARO rally info, the following 2 paragraphs...

"Under Texas law, companies that build natural-gas gathering lines have the same eminent-domain power as more traditional utility companies such as Atmos Energy. And they have more freedom than many government agencies in condemnation cases. For instance, cities have to hire two independent appraisers when condemning a piece of land for a road, and those appraisals must be shared with the landowner. Gas pipeline companies don't have to do that.

Technically, Chesapeake could have started building the pipeline in 2008, after a preliminary hearing in front of a group of court-appointed commissioners. Chesapeake's attorneys, John Baker and Michael Ma, appeared to be waiting for Sprinkle to ratify that award before proceeding."

Now, maybe a fair-minded person might not consider the above to be shill type propaganda. I thought that the point being made in the above 2 paragraphs seemed ridiculous. But what do I know about the law? Especially the way it's practiced in Texas.

And then on the blogging about my disdain for the way the Star-Telegram covered this story I got a comment verbalizing better than I the absurdity of the 2 paragraphs above that I had characterized as Chesapeake propaganda.

Here is what Anonymous had to say....

"I was there in the courtroom and Steve respectfully but clearly corrected the judge in several instances, as to the facts and the law itself. The most compelling one was when the judge claimed that CHK could have shoved the pipelines down under his little front yard since Nov. 2008, and which Steve quickly retorted that "you honor, if this giant billion dollar corporation could have done that, they would have so by now--it's certainly not out of their generous heart or humanity"--as he pointed to the state seal that's about 16-inches in diameter to let all present know how massive the pipelines really are. Common sense would indicate that the judge was trying to "spin" the facts to make CHK look good--OR ELSE WHY ARE THEY STILL TRYING TO GET THE LEGAL PAPERS TO TAKE HIS PROPERTY? Even I can answer that question: because they got caught by Steve lying, cheating, and deceiving and thus could not legally take possession and would have exposed CHK to a massive fiasco for trespassing if they were to run their pipelines under Steve's private property."

The emailer, who asked Mike Lee about the CARO Rally omission, opined that slings and arrows should be slung and shot at the publisher of the Star-Telegram, not at that newspaper's reporters. I don't agree, but that's okay.

I have done plenty of poking at the Star-Telegram. I believe the Star-Telegram's editorial slant is way off. It's perfectly normal and legit for a newspaper to have a slant to its point of view, leaning left, leaning right, leaning liberal, leaning conservative. Most try to be fair and balanced, but that is a tricky act. I guess.

Where the Star-Telegram goes askew is in its over the top, irresponsible, at times, civic boosterism, to the point of completely misrepresenting the facts. Have you visited the Sante Fe Market lately to get a taste of being at Seattle's Pike Place Market?

And then there's the way the Star-Telegram acts like a mouthpiece for the Ruling Oligarchy and the Good Ol' Boy Network that seems to run this company town.

Here is one example that shines a really bright spotlight on the fact that the Star-Telegram is not a real newspaper, not in the manner of the real newspapers that serve most American communities. The City of Fort Worth staged a raid on a Fort Worth Citizen after he refused to roll over and play dead for Chesapeake Energy.

The clearly inappropriate raid was staged to intimidate this citizen. If the Star-Telegram were a real newspaper they would have been all over this like Woodward and Bernstein being all over a minor break-in.

As in, who ordered the raid? Why was the raid ordered? Who knew about the raid being ordered?

Another way to look at how bad this newspaper is. Had the Star-Telegram been Washington, D.C.'s newspaper of record, Richard Nixon would have successfully completed his second term and the word "Watergate" would not have entered the world's vernacular.

Tornado Season Texas Twister Time & Oklahoma Tarantulas, Snakes and Tornadoes

Speaking of Twisters, I just got a blog comment from Twister raising the Karen Silkwood specter. Last night I got emails raising the same concern. What I'm concerned about is what in the world happened to this zone of America that makes some people so wary?

Speaking again of Twisters, this morning, for reasons I've now forgotten, in an email reply to the Wild Woman of Woolley, aka Miss CVB, I mentioned a tornado that came down the driveway of a mutual classmate of ours, who had moved to Ada, Oklahoma.

This mutual classmate has an irrational fear of her name being on the Internet, so, for anonymity's sake, I will call her Miss CMP.

Miss CMP and family moved to Oklahoma about a month before I moved to Texas. I've known Miss CMP since early grade school and she's always been one of my favorite people. Visits up to Ada were quite fun. Miss CMP has since abandoned me and has moved back to where I came from, the Skagit Valley of Washington.

When Miss CMP moved to Oklahoma she had 3 major concerns, Spiders, Snakes and Tornadoes.

The first time I visited up in Ada, I drove us all over the place, with Miss CMP verbalizing her tornado worries. They'd been up to Oklahoma City to see the horrible damage done by a monster twister. I pooh poohed Miss CMP's concerns, asking do you see any tornado damage as we drive around? She proceeded to point out tornado shelters.

Switching from twisters to spiders. Miss CMP was not long in to being an Okie when one night she felt something moving on her bed. The lights came on. It was a huge tarantula. It remains a mystery, to this day, how this happened. As in there are not a lot of tarantulas in the Ada, OK zone. I've only seen 1 in my zone of Texas.

Switching from spiders to snakes. At one point Miss CMP and family discovered they were living with snakes in the attic. This was discovered, when one day, it was difficult to open the exit screen door. Because a huge snake was snuggled up against it. The snake slithered away, and to the family's horror, it slithered up a pole and squeezed into their attic. Later it was discovered the attic was home to a lot of snakes. This became a serious issue with air conditioner repair guys who needed to be in the attic.

Back to twisters. So, so far, 2 out of 3 of Miss CMP's worst fears have come to be reality. And then, one fine Oklahoma day the sky turned frightful, the wind began to blow. tornado sirens began to wail. Miss CMP and family stood outside watching the storm.

And then a tornado came into view, heading towards their house, heading straight up their driveway. The formerly scared of tornadoes, Miss CMP, told her daughter to get in the closet, but Miss CMP stayed outside taking pictures.

I was amazed when I heard this and saw the pictures.

You can see Miss CMP's Oklahoma Tornado here.

My mom and dad want to come visit Texas again. My mom also has an irrational fear of tornadoes. This will cause the visit to take place after tornado season. I have sort of dropped hints that tornadoes can happen, here, any time of the year.