The Ides Of December Shines Blue & Warm In Wichita Falls

After a couple days of windy wet freezing gray gloom, on this Ides of December Saturday, blue sky and relatively warm air has returned to my North Texas location on the planet.

And so I was able to take my handlebars on a roll around town.

Eventually I arrived at the somewhat abandoned MSU where, as you see here, the annual re-appearance of the Wichita Falls Public Mass Transit Trams has occurred, taking up parking positions on a lot at the north end of the campus.

These five trams wait til dark to do their transiting, loaded with sightseers seeking to see the Christmas light sights one sees in the Wichita Falls version of Beverly Hills neighborhood.

These lights are quite a spectacle.

The Wichita Falls Public Mass Transit Christmas Trams are open air, non-heated conveyances. One is allowed to bring a thermos warmed beverage onboard, of the hot chocolate or coffee sort. I assume one could also bring along a more adult warming type beverage if one felt the need, with such subtly secreted in a thermos type device.

Coats, hats, gloves and blankets are likely also a good idea...

Jason Finding Relative Corny Nooksack Salmon In Old Seattle Times

Yesterday Spencer Jack's favorite dad, who also is my favorite Jason nephew, emailed me with a perplexing subject line of "Corny Relative's Nooksack Salmon".

Who is this corny relative with salmon from the Nooksack, I sat here and wondered? Is the corny fishing relative Spencer Jack's Uncle Joey, an uncle well known for his frequent salmon fishing in various Pacific Northwest water locations, though I'd not heard of Joey fishing in the Nooksack.

For those unfamiliar with Washington rivers, the Nooksack is a river which flows from the Mount Baker watershed, through Whatcom County til it reaches Bellingham Bay, which connects to the Georgia Straits and eventually the Pacific Ocean after passing through the Straits of Juan de Fuca and the untreated sewage which flows from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Opening the email from Jason, after reading the perplexing subject line, the text in the email said...

I assume the relative mentioned in the 1945 attached Seattle Times newspaper page would be your grandfather?

Well, a grandfather of mine would be a great-grandfather of Jason's. Knowing it was our mutual forefather being referenced I knew Cornie had to be Cornelius Slotemaker-Jones.

The Slotemaker-Jones naming rules established long ago in the Netherlands were that the eldest son was to be named for his paternal grandpa.

I forgot to explain, the Dutch translation of the Slotemaker surname is sometimes thought to be Jones, hence Slotemaker-Jones.

The original Slotemaker-Jones, possibly illegal immigrants from Holland, were Cornelis and his wife, my great-great grandma, Aagje. Their first son, Jan (John), was my great-grandpa, married to my great-grandma, Tillie, who is the only one of that generation I knew, and remember.

Their eldest son was my dad's dad, my grandpa, Cornelius, also, apparently known as Cornie, though I thought his Americanized nickname was Neil. I do not know why they changed the spelling of Cornelis to Cornelius when they became Americanized, or why they Americanized Jan to John.

Because my dad was the eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son his name was John, with the Americanized nickname of Jack. I was supposed to be named Cornelius, due to that eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest son naming convention, but my mom and dad decided to be American rebels and not name me Cornelius.

I am guessing maybe mom and dad did not want their eldest son to have the nickname of Cornie. I believe it was a HUGE family scandal when mom and dad committed this egregious act of breaking the family naming convention. Mom and dad further inflamed some of the relatives a couple years later when they mis-informed them the name of their new born baby girl was Matilda, (if I am remembering the family lore correctly) when Matilda's actual name was Nancy.

Anyway, so Jason's email included a PDF of the front page of the Seattle Times from Sunday, July 29, 1945. It took me awhile, scanning the headlines and the articles to locate the Cornie reference. That is a screen cap of the Seattle Times front page above, and the article mentioning Cornie, cropped below.

The article's headline claiming Farmers Would Give Navy Their River was intriguing.

Apparently there was some irrational thought given to the idea of the Navy using the Nooksack River to moor some of the 514 ships they were somehow planning to moor on Lake Washington. How would they float big ships to Lake Washington? Through the Ballard Locks? Seems unlikely.

I called mom last night and asked if she remembered this idea of floating Navy ships to moor on the Nooksack River during World War II. It was not too shocking that mom had no memory of this. But she did remember the nature of the Nooksack River and asked how would they float big boats upstream on that river? It wouldn't be deep enough, would it?

The paragraph mentioning Jason's Great Grandpa, Cornie, is as follows...

Our farmers would be real pleased to have the Navy occupy our idle river. It's plenty wide. Our old-time freight steamers didn't have space to turn around, but they managed nicely by backing downstream. Cornie Slotemaker-Jones landed a 32-lb. salmon here this month, so we could offer the sailors good fishing and a lot of other entertainment. The Nooksack has always been noted for having a lot of bars.

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A lot of bars? Are we talking sandbars along the river here? Sandbars would seem to be a river navigation impediment. Or are we talking bars of the tavern/saloon sort?

I have no idea.

But, I do know part of the family lore is our Great-Grandpa Slotemaker-Jones, and some of his brothers, brewed beer during prohibition. And sold it. Some say via river running their brewed products down south to the Seattle area, for distribution.

A bigger mystery to me is how in the world did Jason find this obscure reference to our forefather in a newspaper from almost three quarters of a century ago?

Below is a photo of our grand and great grandparental units enjoying some of Grandpa's prohibition product. I believe that is Grandpa Cornelius sitting on the far left, with Grandma Sylvia, who was Jason's great-grandma, and my grandma, and Henry and Spencer Jack's great-great grandma, standing, the second from the left....

J.D. Granger Trinity River Vision Job Termination Long Overdue

A day or two ago Elsie Hotpepper asked me a question which caused me to remember a notorious J.D. Granger embarrassment which happened several years ago, with that embarrassment being so embarrassing that way back then the incident brought demands that J.D. Granger be removed from his executive director job mis-directing the Trinity River Vision Authority, which even then had already morphed into being America's Biggest Boondoggle.

In this embarrassment J.D. Granger had his kids holding signs cheering for beer and saying they were going nuts for runner's butts.

I know, hard to believe, but totally true.

We documented this absurdity in This Morning I Learned J.D. Granger Is Promoting Little Kids Cheering For Beer & Going Nuts For Runner's Butts.

That particular blog post generated multiple comments opinionizing about this J.D. Granger embarrassment....

LandslideClyde said...The taxpayers happily pay JD $140,000 a year (that's what it was in 2009. Probably twice that now) for his fun and games with public money. This is one time that the axiom "you get what you pay for" is baloney.

Anonymous said...Sorry not sorry or the Twitter hashtag #sorrynotsorry is the Trinity River Vision's answer to criticism. Seriously.

Anonymous said...A blog out of Wise County called Liberally Lean From The Land of Dairy Queen picked up this article from you and posted it.

Anonymous said...I'm a reporter at FOX 4, and had some questions about this post, and the picture. Would love to talk to the blog author. Can you call me? 817-336-xxxx. Thanks. Brandon Todd

Anonymous said..."Don't poop your pants, or do. We don't judge"?????? Fits in perfectly with the clueless crowd that hops into a tube down at Fecal Beach! Unbelievable! How do you like what TRV has brought us so far? Worth the financial drain? Worth the forfeiture of property? Any reference to "peeing" should be about what method they have chosen to do away with our treasure!

 Anonymous said...Does Child Protective Services exist in Texas? If so these morons should be reported to protect those kids.

Beth A. said...You are correct, Durango, this should be grounds for termination. Those poor kids are being used. Can't find anything about these signs anywhere else. Hope it gets more coverage and Granger gets some heat. Thanks.

cd0103 said...What is funny is I FB tagged you in this article before I opened it (post on Jeff Prince' page). Then I read it and you were quoted. Cracks me up. Keep up the good fight my friend.

Durango said...CD-----I just read the Jeff Prince Fort Worth Weekly post. Thought to myself, did I say that? I guess I must have....

Anonymous said...Would love to speak to you about this post. I am blog "gatekeeper" for Mark Greene's Congressional campaign. I also handle media.

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The J.D. Granger kids with signs embarrassment happened over four years ago. Demands that he be removed from the job, for which it is now undeniable he is unqualified, have amped up.

The Fort Worth Business Press recently weighed in warning that this ongoing scandal is now on the verge of turning Fort Worth into a national joke in Watch out River Vision, the world is watching.

That article generated yet one more comment calling for the removal of J.D. Granger...


kafcampbell said...Fort Worth Business Press, thank you for continuing to shine a light on the Panther Island boondoggle. JD Granger has outlived his usefulness, if he ever had any. His relationship with Rep Granger is a detriment at this point. He can best serve Fort Worth, what's left of the Panther Island project and Congress by resigning and taking the taint of nepotism out of the picture. That's a lot of salary to give up, though. I don't see it happening. Also, Water District, open up to scrutiny. Sheesh, you'd think they were the NSA...

__________________

I would have thought J.D.'s long past due job termination would would have finally resulted from recent revelations, learned via emails between J.D. and his mother, Kay Granger.
Revelations which revealed J.D.'s interference in the bridge's design.

J.D's clueless inept interference came after the Army Corps of Engineers approved of the West 7th Street Bridge design for the Boondoggle's three simple bridges.

With the Army Corps plan including federal funds paying for the bridges, and which indicated the bridges would be built in a timely fashion, long ago completed, unlike J.D. Granger's V-pier bridge design debacle, with the three bridges now not expected to be completed until, possibly, maybe, hopefully, in 2020, six years after starting construction.

How this J.D Granger nonsense goes on and on and on is so perplexing.

New Wichita Falls Circle Trail With Golden Wheat Waves

What with the outer world warmed to a relatively warm temperature nearing 60 degrees this seemed like a good reason to go for a pleasant nature walk.

And what better place for such a walk than the Wichita Bluff Nature Area, designated specifically for such an activity.

But, today I did not make it past the sign marking entering the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

The new parking lot on the Circle Trail, located off Loop 11 on the south side of the Wichita River, is now open and ready to be parked on.

This new section of the Circle Trail soon terminates under the bridge over the Wichita River, awaiting funding to complete the Circle Trail from this location to Lucy Park.

Three orange barrels mark the current end of this section of the Circle Trail.

I forgot to mention what that is you are seeing in the photo at the top. Soon after walking away from the new parking lot one comes to a section of the Circle Trail where a wall of super tall wheat-like looking vegetation hovers above, blocking the view of the Wichita River. Scenic, in a waves of golden wheat across the prairie sort of way.

Let's end this look at the new section of the Circle Trail with the view from the bench I sat on when I decided I was at the turn around point.

Now, if only the local voters would wise up and realize it is a good idea to vote yes on funding the completion of the Wichita Falls Circle Trail.

Who Wants To Look At The Fort Worth Cement Lined Ditch J.D. Granger Debacle?

If my memory is serving me correctly, and sometimes it does, I have not made mention of America's Biggest Boondoggle since mentioning that the Trinity River Vision Debacle With J.D. Granger Was Reaching National Joke Status.

J.D. Granger amped up the national joke status by coming across as a clueless buffoon during an NBC TV interview. So, buffoonish that the next day NBC TV had J.D. Granger back on air trying to walk back the clueless buffoonery he had uttered.

In the Star-Telegram's The Panther Island project is getting a deep look, but its CEO won’t be scrutinized article, which we slightly scrutinized in the previous blog post about J.D. becoming a national joke, the Boondoggle's Bypass Channel was referenced.

No, that is not a look at a model of the Bypass Channel you are looking at above. That is a real "Bypass Channel" or cement lined ditch, which exists in real time in Wichita Falls, Texas, channeling water from Sikes Lake to Holliday Creek, en route to the Wichita River. That is not a Wichita Falls version of a "Signature Bridge" you see crossing the ditch. That is a golf cart bridge which takes golfers to their next hole.

I have not read the Star-Telegram, in recent times, during this new period of that newspaper seeming to try to somewhat accurately report on what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle, repeating the ridiculous nonsense that the Trinity River Vision's three imaginary signature bridges were being built over dry land so as to save time and money.

When there was never any other option than to try and build those simple little bridges over dry land, due to the fact the funds to dig the ditch had not yet appeared. And when the construction of those pitiful bridges had dawdled past the four year mark it must have finally seemed ridiculous to even the Star-Telegram to suggest they were being built over dry land to save time.

That, and as for that saving money aspect, no one knows, due to the absolute lack of transparency, how much has already been spent saving money building these bridges over dry land.

No, let's talk about that Bypass Channel cement lined ditch.

From that Star-Telegram article about J.D. Granger not being scrutinized...

Re-channeling the Trinity River north of downtown in an effort to control downstream flooding would create the 800-acre Panther Island. Cutting that channel is the responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers, which has devoted $61 million to the project to date.

Though the project has missed out on 2019 funding, federal projects have about $9 million held over from past years. Most of that work will be done away from the downtown bypass channel in Gateway Park. To stay on the “critical path,” the minimum work to keep the project on schedule, Washington will have to kick in at least $26 million in 2020.

About $322 million in local money has been spent since the project’s inception more than 10 years ago. Purchasing the land needed for the channel and relocation of displaced businesses has cost about $140 million.

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Where to start? The river is being re-channeled in an effort to control flooding downstream? Really? Don't the current Trinity River levees in the downtown Fort Worth zone already control downstream flooding? And have done so for well over half a century? Flood control already bought and paid for.

This Bypass Channel is the responsibility of the Army Corps or Engineers? Really? I thought the Corps was onboard with simply improving the existing levees at a cost of a few million bucks. The Bypass Channel and imaginary island was not an idea foisted on Fort Worth by the Army Corps of Engineers. It was an idea foisted on Fort Worth by locals, such as Kay Granger and her Gang, hoping to make some big bucks by enhancing the value of property they owned in the area of the proposed imaginary island.

The project missed out on 2019 funding, but to stay on its "critical" slow motion path Washington must deliver at least $26 million in 2020. Why must Washington do such a thing?

About $322 million of local money has been spent since this Boondoggle began? Really? Where did that money come from? Can we see an accounting of from whence the funds came and what the supposed $322 million was spent on? Including salaries, such as the $213,000 a year J.D. Granger is being paid to mis-manage this debacle.

About $140 million was spent to take land for the un-needed Bypass Channel? Some of that land was taken over ten years ago, with the victims of the abuse of eminent domain threat still not made whole from the financial damage done to their lives. Can you imagine being one of those victims of the Boondoggle, and ten years later driving by the location of your former home or business and seeing a Boondoggle mess which has gone on for years, with no fruition or end in sight?

More later. I got sidetracked on other Boondoggle issues from a point I wanted to make about that Bypass Channel ditch....

Freezing Snow Aborts Wichita Falls Library Trek

Well.

The predicted possible snow snowing in the Wichita Falls zone turned way more snowy than what usually happens.

As in predicted snow usually seems to make no appearance, or maybe just a few flakes.

An hour before noon, give or take a minute or two, even though big flakes were falling, and appeared to not be melting, I decided, since I saw many vehicles doing so, that the roads were okay to drive on.

And so I exited my abode.

Carefully.

Holding on to the railing descending the stairs to ground level.

As soon as I was rolling north on Taft Boulevard I tapped the brakes to see if any slipping was noted.

None was.

As I headed north, towards the downtown Wichita Falls library, the snow seemed to be falling far more copiously.

I looked at my vehicle's temperature measuring monitor to see that which said it was 33 degrees upon departure now indicated it was freezing, as in 32 degrees.

By the time my location on Taft Boulevard was in the Midwestern State University zone, only about a half mile from my abode, near the Fantasy of Lights, the road suddenly turned slippery. A red light stopped me at Hempstead. When the light turned green it was quickly obvious the road was now icing up.

I took the first opportunity to turn around and head back to my abode. The side street by which I made the turnaround quickly confirmed, via its slipperiness, that turning around was the right thing to do, what with me not wanting anything remotely resembling my last ice storm driving nightmare a few winters back in Fort Worth.

That photo you see at the top is post turnaround, back at the stoplight at Hempstead, heading south, past the aforementioned Fantasy of Lights, back to the relative safety of my home zone.

Below is video I took whilst still feeling slip-free, as I approached the Fantasy of Lights, before realizing the road had become too slippery for my driving requirements...

Saturday Snow White Out In Wichita Falls Not Yet A Blizzard

Saturday morning.

Inside it is not all that delightful, but outside it is absolutely frightful, stop the snow, stop the snow, stop the snow.

I planned to venture to downtown Wichita Falls this morning to the library to return a bag of books and then refill the empty bag with new books.

But the predicted possible snow with possible freezing conditions are no long a possibility, freezing conditions with snow are now a frightful reality.

Just look at what my dormant bike handlebars are looking at from their patio perch. A road slickly covered in white.

I have not ventured outside, other than for photo taking purposes, and that was done without actual exposure to the falling snow or the frozen ground. To get to ground level I have to negotiate stairs.

They are not as treacherous as the stairs I used to have to negotiate to get to ground level during heavy snow in my old Mount Vernon, Washington location.

Let me see if I can find the webpage I made years ago of my old home location in Mount Vernon.

Found it.

Click Found it and scroll to the bottom and you will see multiple photos documenting the worst, or best (depending on ones point of view) snow accumulation I ever experienced whilst living in the Puget Sound lowlands zone of Western Washington. This lasted for about a week, leaving me stranded, what with the exit road being a steep cul-de-sac. This turned my neighborhood into a winter wonderland of sledding.

And cross country skiing. I recollect making my way on my cross country skis all the way up Waugh Road. Then going downhill at high speed all the way to College Way. Those familiar with the Thunderbird zone of Mount Vernon will get how adventurous such was. And now, years later, looking back on it, I am appalled I did something so fraught with the possibility of something going dire wrong.

I won't be going to do any cross country skiing on Mount Wichita today. First off I don't think the accumulation of the white stuff will be sufficient for such an activity. And, second off, I threw my cross country skis away when I moved to Wichita Falls after I discovered the skis had de-laminated after spending too much time being stored outside where the temperature regularly reached frightfully HOT temperatures.

Coming up on 10 the snow still falls. If relief comes by 11 I may risk venturing top the library...

After 12 Years Of More Talk Than Action J.D. Granger Is Finally....

This morning I saw this After 12 years of more talk than action, work on Bellingham’s central waterfront is finally underway article in the Seattle Times.

I saw that 12 years part of the title, along with waterfront, and immediately the 12 years J.D. Granger has been boondoggling along Fort Worth's imaginary waterfront came to mind.

Way back in the last century I lived in Bellingham for a couple years. At that point in time Bellingham's central waterfront was still dominated by a Georgia-Pacific paper mill.

That paper mill is long gone, and not missed. It was a polluter in more ways than one.

Much of Bellingham's waterfront was already developed, even with the paper mill at its center. Even way back when I lived in Bellingham, it was the location of the south terminus of the Alaskan Ferry.

Reading this article in the Seattle Times about Bellingham's long effort to reclaim its central waterfront I was struck once again about what a stark difference there is between the quality of an article in the Seattle Times and the lame, usually badly written, poorly investigated, sad excuse for journalism I read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

It is rather easy to see there is a connection between the quality of a town and the quality of  the news sources which report on that town. The ongoing recent spate of Star-Telegram articles about America's Biggest Boondoggle, which is Fort Worth's pitiful attempt to develop a waterfront from an industrial wasteland, presents a stark example of how bad the reporting is in the Star-Telegram, compared with a real, full functioning newspaper practicing real journalism.

Click the After 12 years of more talk than action, work on Bellingham’s central waterfront is finally underway article this morning in the Seattle Times link and read the article and try and imagine ever reading such an in-depth piece of writing in the Star-Telegram, about something in Fort Worth.

Such as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision and its pitiful embarrassments, such as three simple little bridges being built over dry land, stuck in slow motion construction for years, and now becoming a national joke...

Video Documenting Baby Henry Saying Hi To Grandpa Jake

Incoming on my phone last night. Video sent from Arizona, I think, of Spencer Jack's cousin, Henry, first born of Spencer Jack's Uncle Joey, who is also my Nephew Joey, usually referred to as Favorite Nephew Joey, or Favorite Joey Nephew, or FNJ2, because FNJ1 is Favorite Nephew Jason.

In the video Henry eventually says "hi" to his Grandpa Jake, who is also my little brother.

At the same time this video arrived via the phone, a separate text message about Henry, also arrived, with that text message coming from Henry's oldest aunt, who also is my oldest sister named Nancy.

Old Sister Nancy's text message said, "Henry was running, too! That was too cute...."

While the video was sent from Arizona, I am assuming Henry is in Washington, in his abode in the Skagit Valley village of Clear Lake.

I may be wrong in this assumption...

Trinity River Vision Debacle With J.D. Granger Reaching National Joke Status

It begins to seem as if the reporting on Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision debacle has reached a frequency level hard to keep up with.

As in I don't get around to blogging about one instance when another pops up. Today there have been two, starting with yet another Fort Worth Star-Telegram article, which once again is sort of frustrating to read due to, you know, the Star-Telegram "style" of reporting.

Today's Star-Telegram article about America's Biggest Boondoggle is titled The Panther Island project is getting a deep look, but its CEO won’t be scrutinized.

How can you look at America's Biggest Boondoggle without scrutinizing the ineptly unqualified executive whose chief job was to oversee the project? The Star-Telegram does not ask that question.

The Star-Telegram once again repeats J.D. Granger earns his current $213,000 salary in a publicly funded position. Publicly funded? From which public funds? How much of what has already been spent on this endless debacle have been public funds spent on what would seem to be exorbitant salaries? With the "exorbitant" word used because it seems paying someone so much to get so little done in 12 years seems extremely exorbitant.

Enough with today's Star-Telegram article. This afternoon Captain Mike Facebook pointed me to a Fort Worth Business Press article titled Watch Out River Vision, the world is watching.

I will copy some of this article for your reading enlightenment, but be sure to click the link to read the entire article, and the comments...

The Trinity River project, aka Panther Island, and its Trinity River Vision Authority and the Tarrant Regional Water District are now in the sights of the national media. The stonewalling and no-comment attitudes of those charged with governance will come under the glare of an unrelenting series of questions by folks they cannot duck.

Fort Worth does not need to become a national example of a government project close to being washed up. We do not need to be known as the city that has three multi-million dollar bridges under construction with no water running under them and rapidly diminishing hopes of ever seeing water under them.

We do not need to be the butt of jokes by late-night TV talk show hosts about a city where a powerful congresswoman’s son is running a mismanaged project that will drown unless his mother and taxpayers can rescue it.

No one wants Fort Worth turned into a joke. Government is meant to be practiced in the open. It is time, as they sang back in the revolutionary 1960s, to let the sunshine in.”

_______________

I think maybe it may be a bit late to be able to prevent Fort Worth from being a national joke.

The Fort Worth/Trinity River Vision Boondoggle debacle has been ripe for national joke status for years now.

Just those pitiful little bridges, now in their fifth year of slowly being under construction, trying to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, is national joke worthy.

That imaginary island is also national joke material, even without the pitiful bridges currently looking like some sort of modern Stonehenge art installation...