Elgin Courier (Elgin, Tex.), Vol. 125, No. 13, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 11, 2015 Page: 4 of 24
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PAGE 4A
ELGIN COURIER - ELGIN, TEXAS
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
Letters
TR
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to the
Editor
Easier
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is not
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Is our society be ng prepared for debtors’ prisons?
I
o
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Publisher’s
Commentary
QUESTION: How many more days
until we see 80 degrees again?
there is probably
no phrase that
, exists in the
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a pedestal for their fi-
nancial or professional
achievements as a
blind eye is turned to
their morally question-
able practices.
It’s “the ends justify
the means” mentality
and it drives me up a
tree.
Governments used to
operate like this and
many of them still do.
Governments in many
parts of the world are
still largely predatory.
You could argue that
predatory tactics led
in part to the Ameri-
can Revolution. The
idea of taxation with-
out representation re-
ally isn’t all that
different from buying
a product or service
and not receiving any
level of customer serv-
ice. In the age of tele-
phone and internet
business, I’m sure that
we can all understand
that level of frustra-
tion.
Ferguson, Mo., is
back in the news this
week with the release
of a Justice Depart-
ment report. You’ll re-
call that Ferguson was
the location of months
of protests following
the death of Michael
Brown, an unarmed
black teenager who
was killed by a white
police officer. The re-
port detailed several
different aspects of
the relationship be-
tween police and the
community out there.
What struck me most
in reading about it,
however, had more to
do with the way that
government out there
allegedly views its re-
lationship with the
public than any sort of
issues between the po-
lice and the commu-
nity in Ferguson.
The Justice Depart-
ment report described
a system that views
people, “less as con-
stituents to be pro-
tected than as
potential offenders
and sources of rev-
enue.” Interestingly
enough, the report ac-
tually is not as critical
of Ferguson as some of
the other municipali-
ties in the area. One of
the more shocking rev-
elations to me was that
the city of Edmundson,
Mo., brings in nearly
$600 per year in court
fines for every resi-
dent. That’s not for
every resident that
committed a crime,
that’s every resident,
period.
A New York Times ar-
ticle that came out on
March 7 made another
interesting point. The
article mentions that if
Brown had been killed
about 500 yards to the
southeast, he would
have died in Jennings,
Mo. A new lawsuit al-
leges that the court
system in Jennings
routinely sends people
to jail to pay minor
traffic fines. This high-
lights one area of law
that I’ve always had a
problem with, but to
this day have never
been able to really see
how it could be
changed.
If you’re rich, why
would you care about a
traffic ticket? What in-
centive would you
have to not speed or
not run red lights? It’s
been a while since I’ve
received a traffic cita-
tion, but my recollec-
tion is that they’re
usually somewhere be-
tween $150-$500.
That’s a drop in the
bucket to a rich per-
son, but to a regular
Joe, that can be an ab-
solutely crippling
amount of money to
have to pay.
The problem here
becomes, “what ex-
actly are municipali-
ties supposed to do if
people don’t pay
fines?” Local govern-
ments and municipali-
ties have a very
difficult burden in per-
forming their day-to-
day requirements.
They need revenue in
order to keep the
water flowing, fix line
breaks, keep their
communities safe, and
the cost of doing busi-
ness is going up daily
just as much for our
government as it is for
ourselves and our busi-
nesses.
What I worry about
however is some of the
tactics that govern-
ments seem to be em-
ploying to solve these
issues. I was under the
impression that
debtors prisons don’t
exist in America, but
the reporting I read on
the continuing issues
in the suburbs of St.
Louis seems to suggest
otherwise.
Dan Kleiner is the
publisher of the Elgin
Courier. Contact him at
dan@elgincourier.com
or 512-285-3333.
Spring training is under way.
Which team will you root
for this year?
ELGIN COURIER
(U.S.P.S. 172-740)
Dan
KLEINER
Next week’s poll
question:
Letters to the
Editor are due
Fridays at 5
p.m. Email
them to
elgincourier@el
gincourier.com
DAN KLEINER - PUBLISHER
PATTY FINNEY - MANAGING EDITOR
TARA DREYER - SPORTS EDITOR
MARIE OTT - AD DIRECTOR
HEATHER ROMINE - BOOKKEEPER/CLASSIFIEDS
STATE OF
TEXAS
GOVERNOR
Greg Abbott
800-843-5789
LT. GOVERNOR
Dan Patrick
512-463-0001
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Ken Paxton
512-463-2100
U.S. SENATORS
John Cornyn
713-572-3337
Ted Cruz
713-653-3456
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Michael McCaul
202-225-2401
STATE SENATOR
Kirk Watson
512-463-0114
STATE
REPRESENTATIVE
John Cyrier
512-463-0682
BASTROP
COUNTY
COUNTY JUDGE
Paul Pape
512-332-7201
SHERIFF
Terry Pickering
512-549-5100
COUNTY COURT
Judge Benton Eskew
512-581-4277
JUSTICES OF THE
PEACE
Donna Van Gilder (Pct.1)
512-581-4258
Raymah Davis (Pct.2)
512-581-7112
Katherine Hanna (Pct.3)
512-332-7288
Larry Dunne (Pct.4)
512-581-7162
COMMISSIONERS
William Pina (Pct.1)
512-581-4001
Clara Beckett (Pct.2)
512-360-2764
John Klaus (Pct.3)
512-303-6800
Bubba Snowden (Pct.4)
512-332-7267
CITY OF
ELGIN
MAYOR
Marc Holm
512-788-6110
CITY MANAGER
Kerry Lacy
512-281-5724
POLICE CHIEF
Chris Bratton
512-285-5757
FIRE CHIEF
Randy Reyna
512-281-4025
CITY COUNCIL
Chris Cannon (Mayor
Pro-Tem, Ward 3)
512-217-1283
Mary Penson (Ward 1)
512-281-4158
Jessica Bega (Ward 1)
512-653-1900
Edward Maldonado
(Ward 2)
512-297-4258
Juan Gonzalez (Ward 2)
512-285-6499
Craig Fromme (Ward 3)
512-567-5702
Keith Joesel (Ward 4)
512-281-3182
Sue Brashar (Ward 4)
512-689-5692
ELGIN SCHOOL
DISTRICT
SUPERINTENDENT
Dr. Jodi Duron
512-281-3434
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
TA 2015 __
Dear Editor,
Over the course of
the last week, the
Public Works De-
partment of the City
has been trimming
brush and trees
from the north side
of Central Avenue. I
inquired with the
work crew as to why,
and was given sim-
plistic answers as
easier to mow and
someone on the
Council asked, and
false answers as to
improving sight-
lines. I complained
to the City’s Public
Works Department,
and if anything the
work sped up.
We have lived at
this address for
more than 16 years.
The City had rarely
mowed this section
until the past cou-
ple of years. In
truth, I do not be-
lieve this is City
property, more
likely County or
Cap Metro right of
way as the road in
this section is
County maintained.
The trees that were
trimmed were
mostly cedars with
foliage to the
ground with nothing
to mow under them.
After talking to the
head of the work
crew, seems this was
done to facilitate a
tractor operator
that was slow, ineffi-
cient and broke too
much equipment
mowing in places he
shouldn’t be. It was
not necessary for
any other purpose I
can conceive.
The City should
take responsibility
for its actions and
repair the misdeeds
of an overaggressive
City Department.
Instead of cutting
and mowing every-
thing sight, manage
the land we have to
make a better,
friendlier environ-
ment.
Consider neigh-
bors before clearing
sections for no bet-
ter reason than
“make it easier.”
Easier is not always
better.
world that irks me
more than, “it’s just
business.” Whenever I
hear this phrase it gen-
erally translates in my
head into, “since
money is involved,
there are no ethics at
play.”
Business is a really
funny thing. It’s what
most of us rely on to
feed our families, keep
a roof over our heads,
to keep the heat on
and the internet
streaming. It’s some-
thing that defines peo-
ple’s lives nearly as
much as anything out
there, whether we like
it or not. As such, the
values by which we
conduct business
should be as much of a
reflection of ourselves
as human beings as
just about any other
measure that exists.
However, we find
quite frequently that
this is not the case.
There are a thousand
examples out there of
individuals who have
built massive fortunes
through means that
most of us would find
morally questionable
at the very least. Some
of these individuals
have received their
comeuppance (Bernie
Madoff immediately
comes to mind), but
most of them never do.
But what really irks
me is that most of the
time these individuals
are actually placed on
Opinion
m Email the Editor at elgincouner@elgincourier.com
/,R800
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Finney, Patty. Elgin Courier (Elgin, Tex.), Vol. 125, No. 13, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 11, 2015, newspaper, March 11, 2015; Elgin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1555273/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Elgin Public Library.