"Texas citizens have a rare opportunity to restore power and voice back to where it belongs, with We The People."

Emergency? Suspend Texas' constitutional rules? For a bill proposing a highway?

11/29/07

Dear Editor,
The Skyline (Alpine, TX)
Copyright 2008

Democracy, Tom Craddick style:

"The importance of this legislation and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted."

This is a verbatim section from HB 2115, the legislation creating La Entrada al Pacifico.

Emergency? Suspend Texas' constitutional rules? For a bill proposing a highway?
It's obvious that La Entrada's backers don't mind playing fast and loose with the rules, from the chilling section above to the wildly inaccurate truck numbers they proposed for TxDOT's use.
Add to that their millions in taxpayer funding and years of lobbying and political back scratching, and the phrase "resistance is futile" can't help but leap to mind.

Last week, however, the Alpine City Council took an important step toward giving our region the power not only to resist La Entrada, but to join together to make sure that the Big Bend doesn't get run over by TxDOT or MOTRAN.
The proposed Big Bend Sub-Regional Planning Commission is an effective way for local towns and counties to have an equal voice with TxDOT, in a context where state and federal statutes require state agencies to work on a government to government basis with regional planning commissions.

Please urge your Big Bend area city council and/or county commissioners to look into and join the Big Bend Sub-Regional Planning Commission. It gives them a way to make sure that local issues, from pollution to property rights, get fair consideration when the state comes calling.

MOTRAN can't take our future unless we let them.

Sincerely,

Peter A. Smyke


Dear Editor,

I would personally like to commend Alpine citizens and council members for proposing and supporting the agenda of the Big Bend Regional Planning Commission at last week's city council meeting. Under Chapter 391 of the Local Government. Code, such a commission can be created to focus and represent the concerns of localized governments. The BBRPC would have the power to demand information and cooperation from federal and/or state entities as an official subdivision of the state.

Considering the effects of the proposed La Entrada al Pacifico trade corridor (HWY 67/90) on the Big Bend region, there is an urgency to demand that TxDOT and MOTRAN take into strong consideration the concerns of Big Bend residents in future plans. I strongly urge the surrounding counties, cities, schools, and citizens of Big Bend to support this commission, and help create an entity that directly represents our property rights, environmental concerns, tax dollars, and any concerns of the people of the Big Bend.

In a time when the federal and state governments are becoming so far removed from the will of the people they represent, Texas citizens have a rare opportunity to restore power and voice back to where it belongs, with We The People.

I urge all citizens who are concerned about the future of Big Bend in the shadow of La Entrada, to attend city council meetings, talk to their commissioners, and become informed of the issues, so we can work together to preserve the beauty of our home. STOP LA ENTRADA AL PACIFICO!

For more information, visit www.stopthetrucks.org, or www.revivacollective.org.

Molly Walker


© 2008 The Skyline, Sul Ross State University.:www.sulross.edu

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