A Message From Craig Bickley About Saturday's TRWD Board Election

This morning there were a couple emails telling me I had once again been "tagged" in Facebook. I think I have accurately deduced that being tagged means your Facebook name has been mentioned in a Facebook post.

This time the "tagging" was in a long list of others who were also "tagged" asking us who got "tagged" to share that which you see here, and the message included with the picture.

The message is from the tallest guy in the photo, Craig Bickley, who, knock on wood, I suspect on Saturday will break Mary Kelleher's record for most votes in a TRWD board election.

I believe I was supposed to share this on Facebook, but since a lot of other people were already doing that I figured I'd share Craig Bickley's message in this venue....

Here in the last few days of the campaign, leading up to election day, I want to thank our many volunteers and supporters for all of their hard work. None of this would be possible without you. I have watched in amusement as the highly paid "astroturf" supporters hired by the other side sit in a chair for 6 hours under a shade tree, not talking to a single voter. Or show up an hour before the polls close, stay for 16 minutes, and then leave. Or in some cases, just telling voters to vote for us! This is what happens when you don't have real support.

I've noticed that apparently the incumbents are winning the vote among vacant lots and medians because that is where you find all of their signs. To those of you that have proudly displayed our signs in front of your house, on your personal property (so many that we had to make 3 follow up orders), Michele and I thank you. Know that we will fight tooth and nail to end eminent domain abuse so that you never have to worry about a water district taking that property in order to turn it into an entertainment venue.

The water district will now be YOUR water district. Not one controlled by a small group of cronies seeking to use your tax dollars to reward their friends and family members. You will be invited to ALL meetings. We will make them accessible. We will come to you and your community to address issues that concern you. We won't create loopholes in the open meetings act or hire a team of lawyers to swat away your information requests. We will put the focus on the future of this great county, and the future of your kids, and their kids.

The tide is turning. The people have had enough. And your support is making it happen. You have a chance to be part of a historic election with record turnout. We thank you for sweating in a hot parking lot spreading the message. We thank you for cutting through the panicked, desperate, mud-slinging by the opposition, with the strings being pulled by a consultant who receives $1.5M of your money from the water district as a kickback. We thank you for knocking on doors, making phone calls, showing up to candidate forums (even when the incumbents back out), for writing letters to the newspaper. All of these things you do add up, and on Saturday night we have a chance to hammer the message home.

Please share this status on your Facebook. Tag every friend you know that lives in the voting area. And then if you have already voted, add a comment of support like "I voted for Craig and Michele to clean up the water district!". If you haven't voted, then vote first thing Saturday morning (before the rain) and then come back and post your message. If you need help finding your polling location, let us know.

With your help. We win.

Thank you so much,
Craig Bickley

A Double Dose Of TRWD Boondoggle Propaganda In My Mailbox Today

Earlier today after I was told a Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Spring Update was arriving in voter's mailboxes today, I blogged about the incoming propaganda in Just In Time For The TRWD Board Election America's Biggest Boondoggle Sends Voters An Update.

So, it did not surprise me to open my mailbox this afternoon to find the expected propaganda from America's Biggest Boondoggle.

It also did not surprise me, too much, to find another piece of related junk mail, that being yet one more tacky attack ad full of lies, innuendo and exaggeration from TRWD incumbent's Leonard and Lane.

I tossed the junk mail on the floor and took the photo you see above, with The Boondoggle's self-aggrandizing piece of propaganda puffery, on top, conveniently covering Jim Lane's face, and some of his lies, such as repeating one more time that Monty Bennett moved bodies to his East Texas property to block the TRWD pipeline. This version has the WWII veteran being dug up in Oklahoma.

The hard copy version of The Boondoggle's Spring Update seems pretty much to match the web version, with maybe a little extra propaganda thrown into the hard copy.

I don't remember the web version repeating Boondoggle propaganda from previous "Updates", such as where the hard copy tells us what the Trinity River Vision will do, things like enhancing the river corridor with over 90 user-requested projects on the Trinity River.

That over 90 user-requested projects propaganda has amused me every time I have read it, whether at The Boondoggle's propaganda installation in the East Regional Library, or on The Boondoggle's massive installation of sign propaganda in Gateway Park, or the many times I've read about the over 90 user-requested projects in The Boondoggle's multiple updates.

Who were these users and how did they make these requests?

Has there ever been any other public works project in America which has produced so many updates over so many years with so little accomplished?

Today's mailer from the TRWD incumbent's must have already been in the pipeline, unable to be stopped, what with the previous TRWD incumbent's mailers backfiring on them and causing them to be the widespread object of ridicule for the blatant cheap shots and ham-handed easily countered lies.

Truth has a way of trumping lies, eventually....

Just In Time For The TRWD Board Election America's Biggest Boondoggle Sends Voters An Update

A few minutes ago I got a text message telling me that in today's mail people are getting the hard copy version of the TRINITY RIVER VISION UPDATE SPRING 2015.

A person inside The Boondoggle emailed me the link to the web version last week.

Click the link to see for yourself the web version of this slick propaganda production.

Just a couple days before the TRWD Board Election the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle sends this to voters?

How is this not some sort of election ethics campaign violation?

With so little accomplished in all the years The Boondoggle has been boondoggling why do they send out any UPDATES? Let alone quarterly updates.

How much did this piece of propaganda cost? Just the web version had to have cost a lot.

In Seattle there are currently several public works projects underway, which dwarf The Boondoggle in scope and cost. Does the Seattle Big Bertha Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel project send out quarterly updates to the voters? Does the 520 Floating Bridge Project send out quarterly updates to the voters? Does the Seattle Link Project currently under construction send out quarterly updates to the voters?

Why would Fort Worth's infamous Boondoggle send out quarterly updates to voters when those voters have never been allowed to vote on The Boondoggle?

Unlike Fort Worth's infamous Boondoggle, the Seattle projects are well engineered, fully funded and well underway.Well, there is that hiccup with the world's biggest tunnel boring machine.

Let's  look at the list of items covered in The Boondoggle's Spring Quarter Update...

• PROGRESS COMING TO GATEWAY & RIVERSIDE PARKS
• GATEWAY PARK EAST AND GATEWAY PARK WEST
• THE CONSTRUCTION ZONE
• PANTHER ISLAND ICE HAS A SUCCESSFUL SECOND SEASON
• MY CITY, MY TRINITY PHOTO EXHIBIT
• PANTHER ISLAND PAVILION 2015 EVENTS
• A FEW FUN NEW THINGS TO POINT OUT AT TRWD
• PANTHER ISLAND WINS URBAN LAND INSTITUTE'S BIG IDEA AWARD
• CLEAR FORK URBAN ANGLERS
• FUNCTIONS, FACES AND PLACES AROUND TOWN

Wow. Progress is coming to a couple parks.

The construction zone referred to, I assume, is the three simple little bridges being built over dry land, in slow motion, connecting the mainland to an imaginary island.

Panther Island Ice had another successful skating season. Imagine that. Important info to share with the voters.

The photo exhibit refers to that photo show The Boondoggle put on to show propaganda photos of the Trinity after being embarrassed by an Amon Carter Museum exhibit of realistic photos of the Trinity.

A listing of Panther Island Pavilion Events for the year. Yes, I can see where that needed to be sent to voters.

A few fun things to point out at TRWD? What? The restaurant business is going good? The fools they made of themselves censuring Mary Kelleher?

I blogged about the bogus-ness of that BIG IDEA AWARD back when The Boondoggle first false bragged about it in a blogging titled The TRVA Panther Island Boondoggle Wins A Boondoggle Of An Award.

How come there is no mention in The Boondoggle's Update of the world's premiere urban wakeboard park?

How come there is mention made of the ice rink, but not of the world's first  drive-in movie theater of the 21st century, which is where the ice rink is located?

How come there is mention made of something called a 'modern roundabout" but no mention made of the construction project timeline of those three bridges being built in slow motion?

One more question.

If on September 9 Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner get elected to the TRWD Board, which would then have actual public servants in the majority, will things like wasting money on absurd propaganda productions like The Boondoggle's quarterly updates be shut down?

Texas Walmarts May Be On The Verge Of Being Taken Over By ISIS And The United States

Yesterday, on Facebook, I saw a quote from something called politics.blog.statesman.com that amused me...

"Texas, it appears you are on the verge of being taken over by either ISIS or the United States of America."

Why is the above an either or type proposition? Couldn't Texas be taken over by both entities?

The new governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, so far appears to be much more wackydoodle than his two predecessors.

Apparently Abbott plans to send the Texas State Guard, whatever that is, to monitor a military exercise called something like Jade Helm.

From what I understand this Jade Helm military operation is a regularly scheduled thing.

But, this year, for some reason, supposedly Greg Abbott thinks this may be a nefarious plot of Obama's to declare martial law with a federal takeover of Texas.

I am a little unclear as to why Greg Abbott, or anyone else would think the federal government would want to take Texas. Isn't Texas already part of the United States of America? Didn't the federal government sort of take over Texas a long time ago, back when Texas was annexed into the U.S.?

There is also a lot of concern that federal military operations are already underway, digging tunnels  under Texas Walmarts with those tunnels leading to massive detention camps. I guess the plan must be to lure shoppers into the Walmarts with some super bargains, and then somehow trick the shoppers into the tunnels.

Walmart has denied that their stores are being tunneled under by the U.S. military. What else would they say? Yes, it's true, we are in cahoots with the Obama federal takeover of Texas.

To err on the side of caution, I plan to stay out of Walmart til this crisis blows over.

As for ISIS.

Well, it would appear that ISIS is already doing its bad deeds in Texas, what with last weekend's attack in the Dallas suburb of Garland.

ISIS has been in the Fort Worth Stockyards as long as I have been in Texas, calling itself New ISIS, as you can see  above.

How come Greg Abbott has not yet ordered the Texas State Guard to monitor this possible Texas ISIS headquarters in Fort Worth?

How come when a bad thing comes to America it often comes to Texas first, usually to Dallas, or a Dallas suburb? Just a few months ago Dallas had America's first Ebola fatality, sending much of America, and the news, into an irrational panic. And now this first ISIS attack in America takes place in Texas, in the Dallas suburb of Garland.

What's next? I shudder to wonder.....

The Truth Literally Beats The Leonard & Lane Lies

That which you see here is a paid political advertisement that showed up in my email a few minutes ago. This is only the upper part of the ad. It was in PDF format, and, well, it worked best to cut off the lower part.

As you can see this ad is informing us that the choice is clear in the TRWD Board election, an election whose results we will know on Saturday.

My polling seems to indicate a landslide win for Craig Bickley and Michele Hojnaki Von Luckner because I have yet to talk to anyone who is voting for Leonard or Lane.

Also in the email, which delivered the above ad, was a letter which asks why the aforementioned Leonard and Lane are stooping to such absurd lies about Bickley and Von Luckner and Monty Bennett.  We touched on that subject in a previous blogging titled Marty Leonard & Jim Lane Are TRWD Puppets Of Dallas Billionaires.

The Leonard and Lane hyperbolic lies are a bit embarrassing. Easily refuted with the truth. And I think, from what I've heard, a lot of people are disgusted with the TRWD incumbents and their sleazy ad tactics, hence that toss the bums out feeling that permeates the current Tarrant Region air.

Anyway, below is the letter refuting the Leonard Lane Lies in its entirety.....

WHY ARE THE INCUMBENT WATER BOARD MEMBERS STOOPING TO SUCH LIES ABOUT MICHELE VON LUCKNER, CRAIG BICKLEY AND THEIR FRIEND MONTY BENNETT?

THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW HOW HONEST AND COMMITTED TO DOING THE RIGHT THING THEY ARE!

Michele is a loving mom and wife.   Married for 19 years, she and her husband Dave have two children. When the recession hit in 2008, both Michele and Dave lost their jobs.  All but one of their creditors worked with them, helping them to pay off their debts over time under mutually-agreed upon installments.  That one creditor filed suit and refused to mediate. The judge was angry but the law did not allow him to dismiss the lawsuit.  He did, however, lower the interest due and set a reasonable payment schedule.

In yet another effort to discredit Michele, the opponents are trying to confuse voters about her last name. Michele’s maiden name is Polish, Hojnaki.  Her married name is Von Luckner, just that simple.  Like so many people in today’s world, she always seemed to run out of time and never got to the polls to vote on local issues.  That is until now, when flooding from the Trinity River is threatening her home and those of her neighbors.  Now she is involved and wants to right the wrongs of the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Craig Bickley is an engineer, husband and father.  Even though he owns property in the Water District, he cannot vote in this election because his homestead is outside the district’s lines.   Yet, he pays water district taxes and knows water is precious.  He is running  for election to the board because of his strong convictions and his commitment to do the right thing.

Both Michele and Craig are being criticized for having a campaign relationship with a person who has an “arrest” on his record; not a “conviction or even a plea bargain agreement.”  The truth is the campaign treasurer for a PAC that has contributed to their campaigns was “arrested” when he was in college at a party, years and years ago, but he was never charged with anything.

Monty Bennett is protecting his mother and the family’s East Texas farm from TRWD’s heavy-handed use of eminent domain.  He established a cemetery for his family on that land.  And, he honored a request of a friend to bury the ashes of a war veteran and relative there.  That’s the simple truth.

Dear Ol' Dad Cleared To Leave Hospital With Pacemaker Installed

That's my dear ol' dad, this morning, after getting the all clear to get out of the hospital, post pacemaker installation.

The message which came with this photo, in addition to the part about getting the all clear, said they were just waiting on paperwork.

That was an hour, or longer, ago.

I suspect by now pa and ma are back home. Or at a McDonald's, if dad's feeling up to it.

No word yet on whether the pacemaker has my dad back being his usual perky self.

Elsie Hotpepper Sent Me A Big Message From Monty Bennett About Jim Lane's Lies

Earlier this afternoon in a blogging about my dad getting a pacemaker today I said the following....

So, what had been a lemon turned into lemonade and now I now know how to look at those little things Elsie Hotpepper sends to my phone. The most recent instance of that had me pathetically trying to figure out what Elsie sent me by using a magnifying glass, which did not magnify enough to make readable.

I am guessing Elsie Hotpepper read the above, because shortly after I hit the publish button on the blogging, what you see here arrived in my email from Elsie Hotpepper, only this time it was not too small to read, this time it was so BIG it overfilled by big computer screen.

I then shrunk it to the size you see here.

Anyway. if you have not read Monty Bennett's factual response to Jim Lane's despicable slander claiming Monty Bennett was burying World War II veterans on his property to block the TRWD pipeline, well, read it here.

And then go vote for anyone other than Marty Leonard and Jim Lane, preferably voting for Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner.

One Person's Up Close Tale Of TRWD Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Dysfunction

A couple minutes ago I got an email telling me I had been tagged in Facebook. Don't ask me what that means because I don't know. What I know is when I get tagged in Facebook I click on the link to Facebook where I see my Facebook name in a message.

Today's tagging is an interesting one, copied and pasted in its entirety...

I'm sharing this again as someone had Mr. Bradshaw's post removed earlier. I know several of you shared as well, please do so again. 

Durango Jones - can you work your magic on this before it disappears again. Thanks!!...

I will NOT be censored. Please share and share often...then VOTE. Thank you.

------------------------------------

One year ago in May 2014, our family fishing club applied to adopt a section of the Trinity River as part of the TRWD "Adopt a River" program. After being notified that we were accepted...radio silence followed. No return phone calls, no returned e-mail messages. Nothing ever happened the rest of that year. Really odd since the river is so polluted and you would think they would be thrilled to have a new group willing to clean an unadopted section of the river area.

In January of 2015 someone from Trinity River Vision contacted me wanting to know more about our club and how they could help promote us. We were interested but requested assistance in the failed attempt in the "adopt-a-river" program. They offered to help. No help came.

What did follow however is contact from TRV's social media specialist wanting to do a feature on us and our use of the river. It was after that when it became clear that there was some dysfunction with the program....or the people who run it.

Really, just the tip of the iceberg when you start studying all of things that have been going on. I will just leave it at that and encourage you to know the facts and importance of this Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) election - and get out and vote for candidates Michele Von Luckner and Craig Bickley on May 9th.

Here is some helpful info for you:

1) Get the info you won't see in the local paper or the giant mailers landing in your mailbox:

2) Find you voter location and VOTE for Michele Von Luckner and Craig Bickley on May 9th:

3) Feel good that you are helping protect the integrity and quality of rivers, streams and water supply, safeguard our communities from flooding...and hold the TRWD board accountable to its original mission.

My Dear Ol' Dad Is Getting A Pacemaker Installed Today

That would be my dear ol' dad you are looking at here.

A month or so ago my mom informed me that on this date, May 4, my dad was going to be having a pacemaker installed to help his ticker tick more reliably.

A few minutes ago I text messaged my Arizona sister to ask for pacemaker updates when it was convenient to do so.

My Arizona sister texted back with this photo and the info that the pacemaker gets installed at 4 this afternoon.

On my phone the photo is quite small. Elsie Hotpepper recently sent me a photo of a document which I could not read due to that small problem.

So, I plugged the phone into the computer, opened it up to view its folders figuring that photo had to be in there somewhere. Eventually I clicked on "Downloads", saw an image icon which instantly disappeared with the computer suddenly in 100% CPU fan at full blast mode.

Having lost control of the computer I hit the off switch, then quickly turned it back on. When the computer was back working I opened the phone folder and clicked on "Downloads" again.

This time the image icon did not go bye bye. I was able to click it and quickly realized that the picture was not of my dad waiting at the hospital, it was my dad still at home waiting.

So, what had been a lemon turned into lemonade and now I know how to look at those little things Elsie Hotpepper sends to my phone. The most recent instance of that had me pathetically trying to figure out what Elsie sent me by using a magnifying glass, which did not magnify enough to make readable.

My dad gets to stay overnight in the hospital. My sister and mom are going to have a slumber party tonight at mom and dad's place.

Hiked To Do My Civic Duty On The Shortest Texas Ballot Yet

Well, I did my civic duty and hiked to the library to do some early voting today.

After I was done I stuck the "I Voted" sticker where you see it here, which rendered the sign's message into "I Voted Craig Bickley" which is what I did.

I also voted for Michele Von Luckner.

I did not vote for anyone else.

Before I was allowed to vote I had to show a photo I.D.

I do not remember having to show I.D. before, but I was told that I had. All I recollect showing before was my Voter Registration card so the poll person could identify my name on the voter list. I easily could have left my wallet at home, since I was walking, not driving to vote. That would have had me really aggravated to get asked for photo I.D. and not have it with me.

Did Texas have a big problem with people voting using names other than their own? How would that work? My driver's license photo is so bad it does not look like me. I appear to be totally bald in that photo. I am not bald.

I tell you, voting in Texas is so different than I was used to at my previous location in America.

Most voters in Washington mail in their ballots. How can one state let you mail in your vote with a permanent absentee ballot method, which obviously requires no photo I.D., while another state has you needing to identify yourself with a photo?

Another big difference on a Texas ballot is there are so few things to vote for. City Council, the TRWD board and one other thing I've already forgotten.

On a Washington ballot there were always a lot of things to vote on. Bond issues, Referendums, Initiatives, Propositions, in addition to people running for various offices.

Why go to the expense and bother of having this current vote in Texas with so few things to vote on?

I think my Washington voting experience is a large part of the reason the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle annoyed me when I learned that a big public works project had been foisted on the public with the public not being allowed to vote for or against the project.

When The Boondoggle began abusing eminent domain to take voter's property I did not understand how that was legal, since The Boondoggle is not a real public works project, approved by the voters, but instead is more of a private business operation pretending to be some sort of public agency.

Anyway. I voted.....