Now there are maps- Texas Redistricting

Federal judges in San Antonio unveiled maps for the state's congressional delegation and for the state House this afternoon, and they did it in time to allow the state to hold its delayed political primaries on May 29. The court also signed off on Senate plans agreed to earlier this month.

The court has not ordered a May 29 election, but on Monday it asked the political parties to detail the election law waivers they would need in order to hold their primaries on that date. The judges put out the maps early enough to take comments from the various parties on them, but they didn't immediately seek those comments, and aren't required to do so.

Attorney General Greg Abbott said these maps are much closer to those originally approved by the Texas Legislature last year. "I consider these interim maps to be a substantial improvement over the maps previously issued by the San Antonio court," he said. "The court properly rejected demands by some plaintiffs to draw drastic and over-reaching maps."

The state objected to the court's first maps because the judges started their drawings from the current political maps instead of starting with the maps approved by the Legislature last year. The U.S. Supreme Court kicked those back, telling the Texas judges to start from the Legislature's work, correcting for violations of the Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act.

Gov. Rick Perry blamed the Democrat judges for the delay in the state's primary elections. "As the Supreme Court has agreed, the federal court in San Antonio overstepped its boundaries when it took it upon itself to draw new maps," he said in a press release. "Had the federal court done it correctly to begin with, the time, costs and inconvenience to our state could have been avoided, and we would be having our elections on schedule."

Children in Need...

There are some things in this world we can almost all agree on. One of those things is rescuing children from unhealthy and abusive situations. In stark contrast to our political writing and our normal confrontational and expose’ format, please find below excerpts from an excellent article written by Kevin Ladd and shared with the community via The Cleveland Advocate and The Dayton News that encourages helping children in the most vulnerable situations:

The number of foster children in Liberty County has risen dramatically in the past few weeks, depleting supplies at the local Rainbow Room and prompting Children’s Protective Services to seek additional donations — both monetary and essential items for the room.

CPS Board President Helen Green says the numbers have been stunning.

“We now have 230 children in foster care in Liberty County,” she said. “At Christmas we had 160. Eleven children were removed from one home in Dayton recently. Of course there are many other children under supervision that have not been removed from their homes.”

You can find the full story at: http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/cleveland/news/cps-board-seeking-donations-for-rainbow-room/article_cce6d789-1334-5564-94da-0b20bad89fda.html

HO HUM, WHEN WILL IT COME

For decades now, Americans have heard every four years how “this is the most important election of our lifetime”. Now that we have finally arrived at an election that fits that billing, Texans are being subject to the “sore loser” behavior of the state’s donkey party. Many conservative Texans have gone from feeling like nostril burning thoroughbreds waiting for the gate to open at the Kentucky Derby to more of a ho-hum, when will it come attitude toward the primaries because of a small coven of liberal magistrates holding up the final decision on re-districting maps.

The Democratic judges who have perpetrated this drug-like slumber on Texas voters may have lessened the impact conservative voters in the Lone Star state have on choosing the Republican nominee for President, and they may even lowered the overall turnout in both primaries, but trust me – the slumber will end. In November the idea that this is the most important election in the history of this country will drive Texans to the polls to weigh in on the fundamental changes President Obama has promised to America.

Local and state primary races in many Texas counties will be important to the Republican dominated state because of inter party efforts to elect true conservatives and not allow the recent popularity of the party be co-opted by candidates who are Republican In Name Only, or RINO’s, as they are disparagingly referred to by longtime conservatives.

As for the nationwide contest for President, there is little doubt the Republican nominee for President will win easily in Texas. But Texas voters are likely to want to send a message to the more liberal of the fifty states by squashing Obama and the liberals in record numbers. Election night, regardless of a few liberal judges from the central part of the state, will be anything but ho-hum. For many it will either be a victory for Republicans in the most important election in history, or it will be the last straw of an ever intrusive unconstitutional attack on what America has been for over two hundred years.

Santorum steals spotlight in Arizona Republican debate

MESA, Ariz. — Rivals heaped criticism on surprise front-runner Rick Santorum in a debate among U.S. Republican presidential candidates on Wednesday, hoping to stall his surge at a pivotal period in the 2012 campaign.

Mitt Romney and libertarian congressman Ron Paul tried to raise doubts about Santorum and questioned his fiscal conservative credentials based on his time in the U.S. Congress when he was an easy backer of government spending projects deemed wasteful by critics.

Paul, asked by CNN moderator John King why he had launched a campaign ad that labelled Santorum a "fake," responded: "Because he's a fake."

Romney, scrambling to make up for a deficit in the polls to Santorum, put the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania on the defensive for backing a much-derided $400 million "bridge to nowhere" project in Alaska that was eventually abandoned.

Santorum fired back that Romney, as chief organizer of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, had sought similar government spending items known as "earmarks" and often deemed wasteful spending.

"When I was fighting for the Olympics, you were fighting for the 'bridge to nowhere,"' Romney told Santorum.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Santorum snapped back. He insisted that earmarks do enjoy public scrutiny and can be useful, although there has been a move among congressional Republicans to ban them.

Santorum needs to build on his momentum going into the Arizona and Michigan primaries on Feb. 28 and pave the way for Super Tuesday on March 6.

Santorum and Romney are in a close race in Michigan, according to opinion polls, with most recent surveys showing the two divided by four percentage points or fewer. A victory in Michigan is critical for Romney as he needs to prove he can win in the state where he was born.

An NBC/Marist poll on Wednesday had Romney at 37 per cent to Santorum at 35 per cent among likely primary voters in Michigan, a statistical dead heat.

The poll gave Romney a lead of 42 per cent to 27 per cent over Santorum in Arizona. A Time/CNN poll on Tuesday found Romney ahead by 36 per cent to 32 per cent there.

A Quinnipiac University poll also released on Wednesday showed Santorum up nine percentage points nationally against his Republican rivals, at 35 per cent compared to 26 per cent for Romney. It showed Gingrich with 14 per cent and Paul with 11 per cent.

Liberty PD Nabs Burglar

The Liberty Police Department has taken a Hurricane Katrina evacuee, arrested and charged with theft elsewhere on Feb. 13, into custody and charged him in connection with driving the getaway van in a Feb. 20 burglary of the Brookshire Brothers grocery store located at 2325 N. Main St. in Liberty. Meanwhile investigators have been following leads left in the van in the search for three other alleged burglars who fled the vehicle.

Ronald Wayne Harvey, 35, had been uncooperative, as of deadline, in helping investigators to identify and to locate the other three suspects who fled the vehicle that he was driving on Highway 90 near Crosby, where Harris County Sheriff’s Department deputies set up devices that snagged a tire and stopped the vehicle, according to Liberty Police Department Lt. Chip Fairchild. Harvey, held at Liberty County Jail, has been charged with burglary of a building and felony evading arrest or detention with a vehicle. Police have recovered 20 cartons of cigarettes and clothing.

The Liberty Police Department received a call from store security at about 2 a.m. Security noticed that three subjects — their heads, faces and hands covered — had broken into the store. They had tried unsuccessfully to enter the pharmacy.

“What [security] reported to us was that they had surveillance going on of people in the store at that time,” Fairchild said. “Officers responded; we had a less than two-minute response time. Upon getting to the store, three individuals were coming out of the store, jumping into a silver-colored van. As the officer approached the van, the subjects fled.”

Deputies were ready for them.

“They crossed FM 2100 on Highway 90 where Harris County had set up spikes in the roadway,” Fairchild said. “One of the tires was punctured. They exited at the first exit on Highway 90 at the San Jacinto River bridge. At that point, three subjects exited the vehicle. One subject, the driver of the vehicle, was apprehended when the vehicle stopped. The three subjects that fled were actually the three that had been in the store.”

Deputies and officers have continued to pursue the trio, which, according to the lieutenant apparently had been a “part of a group that has been burglarizing stores all over this part of Texas,” based on previous similar arrests.

Courtesy HCN Cleveland

BOBBY RADER SAYS THE SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT CAN DO BETTER

The first forum of the political primaries was conducted recently and candidate for sheriff Bobby Rader was there to make his case to the voters how a vote for him would be a vote to improve Liberty County’s sheriff department .

Bobby Rader moved to Liberty as a Texas Department of Public Safety Officer and worked in that position for seven years. He then went into business for himself in the field of insurance. He ran for office in 1998 as a Republican and has served as a judge of the Justice of the Peace precinct #1 for 13 years.

Rader told the audience he has more civil and criminal experience than his opponents combined. He also said as a business man he has been successful managing people and budgets and he believes he can use that experience to help the morale problem and the high turnover rate in the department.

“Unless they are trained to the best of their ability, morale goes down,” he said.
Pointing again to the problems deputies have because the sheriff has not exposed them to needed training, Rader wade in with his perspective as a judge, “A lot of cases are dismissed because we either didn’t have the evidence or we didn’t do it right.”

Rader said that his first priority would be to work with local law enforcement agencies. He claimed that the sheriff’s office has no relationships with local city police departments and that the sheriff’s office does not participate in their monthly meetings. Rader said that he wants to improve the communications between the county and the local agencies.

Judge Rader also pointed out that the county needs to catch up on serving warrants. Liberty county currently has over 6,000 open warrants.

PATTERSON WANTS FOUR MORE YEARS AS SHERIFF

The first forum of the political primaries was conducted recently and incumbent sheriff Henry Patterson was there to make his case to the voters to give him four more years.

In the forum, Patterson explained he has 33 years at the Cleveland Police Department. He said that he started at the bottom and rose up from a Cleveland patrolman to assistant chief. As assistant chief of the Cleveland Police Department Patterson decided more of the focus of the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department needed to be on helping fight crime in the Cleveland area. With that in mind, Patterson ran and lost in the 2004 Democratic primary. With four more years experience in the Cleveland Police Department, Patterson decided to run again in 2008.

“I decided to run four years ago to improve on equal law enforcement throughout the county,” said Patterson. “It was selective and lacking on the north end.”

Patterson has now served as the Liberty county sheriff for 38 months. When each candidate was asked to identify their goals for the department for the next four years, Patterson said, “I’d like to continue the route we are on now”.

When challenged that the “route we are on now” is not all it has been cracked up to be, Patterson pointed to case clearance rates for his department. Patterson noted that the percentage of cleared cases in 2009 - 2011 were 34%, 40%, and 37% respectfully. When Patterson pointed out that those clearance numbers are calculated by the state and signed off on by Rick Perry, it was pointed out that the actual raw data comes from Henry Patterson and the LCSO. There are ways to improve a rating without actually solving a crime. Cases can be cleared by being dismissed or when people die.

When Patterson was challenged again on his decision to not utilize training opportunities for his deputies, he again refuted the charge. He claims his deputies were not under trained. He said that more than 50 percent of deputies have intermediate or advanced certifications in law enforcement. Patterson never addressed why the sheriff’s department, under his leadership no longer attends joint meetings and training with other law enforcement agencies.

"The one thing you have got out of me in the last three years is the best I have to offer,” said Patterson. “Our numbers are factual. We are working hard and arresting a lot of people. There are things we have no control over. If you want things the way they are, in control, I’m the person for the job.”

For more of the story see the Cleveland Advocate.

MIKE JACKSON RUNNING FOR THE U.S. HOUSE

Mike Jackson is running for the House of Representatives to represent this area. We hope you will read his thoughts on the issues below and begin to prepare to vote in the Republican primary.

First Principles

Every decision an elected official makes should be based on core principles. Too many of the politicians in Washington have forgotten this simple premise. As your Representative in Congress, these are the principles which will guide my every vote:

You Cannot Ignore the Constitution and Protect Liberty

As the Founding Fathers so justly recognized in the Declaration of Independence, each of us is endowed by Our Creator with Liberty and we, the people, allow elected officials to be our voice – we must never let them forget that their authority is received FROM US and we expect them to follow the Constitution.

Following the Constitution means following ALL OF THE CONSTITUTION. As an avid hunter and proud Member of the Texas State Rifle Association, I will always fight to protect our 2nd Amendment rights.

You Cannot Grow Government and the Private Sector

Every time Barack Obama and his liberal allies call for tax increases, they are saying “We prefer a stronger government than stronger private enterprise”. If we ever hope to grow our economy and limit the power of the federal government, we must stop this misguided belief that the earnings of small businesses belong to the government.

In order to truly inspire the private sector to create more jobs, Barack Obama and liberal leaders in Congress must be defeated. Only then can we begin the process of dismantling the excessive regulations, over-bearing mandates (like Obama-care), and stifling atmosphere that has private enterprise fleeing our shores for greener pastures.

Lower corporate taxes, less regulation, and a smaller-less intrusive federal government will help us forge economic expansion that will provide more jobs, more taxpayers, and stronger businesses for all our communities.

You Cannot Spend Your Way Out of Debt

If raising the debt ceiling allowed our nation to lower our federal debt and control spending, then why has it NEVER worked? It is time to stop the spending carnival in Washington.

In Texas, we are Constitutionally mandated to have a balanced budget. During tough times, it means we have to make tough decisions and set critical priorities, but it prevents us from being bankrupt as a government. We deserve to have a Balanced Budget Amendment for the federal government as well.

While I support the budget put forward by Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, we need to have a Congress and a President who show the courage and leadership necessary to preserve, secure, and reform Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Without real reform – recognizing that these programs are going bankrupt and face trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities – we will condemn our children to a debt burden which will crush our nation and leave them utterly dependent on the federal government.

You Cannot Have a Strong Nation Without Strong Families and a Respect for LIFE

Our families are the bedrock of our nation – without strong families, America would never have grown into a world leader. I will always stand on the side of strong families and that means protecting the Sanctity of Life and Marriage.

You Cannot Have a Secure Nation With Weak Borders and Weak National Defense

I have NEVER seen Congress get serious about border control and I will make it a priority for a conservative-led Congress to stop the flood of illegal immigrants that cross our border every year.

And I have been appalled at the massive, ill-conceived cuts that are now weakening American military strength. We cannot proceed with these drastic and absurd cuts if we are to defend our nation along our shores, our borders, and abroad.

You Cannot Control Your Economic Future if You Do Not Control Your Energy Future

For too long, Washington politicians and enviro-liberals have driven our energy producers out of America. It is time Congress led our nation to a vast energy expansion so we can better control our economic future, energy prices, and stop sending hundreds of billions of dollars to unstable Middle East nations.

ROBERT NICHOLS for DISTRICT 3 STATE SENATE

First elected to the Texas Senate in 2006, Robert Nichols represents several counties including the greater part of East Texas and Liberty County.

Nichols serves as vice chair of the Intergovernmental Relations Committee and sits on the Transportation and Homeland Security, Natural Resources, Health and Human Services, and Nominations Committees. He was also appointed last year to the influential Sunset Advisory Commission.
During his two sessions as a state senator, Nichols authored important legislation to protect landowners' rights, increase educational opportunities in East Texas and reform transportation policies. He was designated as a top legislator by Texas Insider and a Champion of Free Enterprise by the Texas Association of Business. He was recently elected by fellow GOP senators to chair the Senate Republican Caucus.

Before running for Senate, Nichols served as a transportation commissioner for eight years where he established a reputation for increasing efficiency without compromising quality.

Nichols is a businessman from Jacksonville, Texas. In his hometown he served on city council, was elected mayor, built four successful manufacturing facilities, earned 32 U.S. patents, and created more than 900 jobs for East Texas families.

Working his way through college by selling fireworks and ironing clothes for other students, Nichols earned a bachelor's degree from Lamar University in 1968. He married his high school sweetheart, Donna, and they are the proud parents of three children: Brittney, Joshua, and Collynn'rae. He is a member of the First United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, Texas.

Occupation: Engineer -- Plastics manufacturing
Education: Lamar University, B.S., Industrial Engineering, 1968
Legislative Experience: Senate Member, 2007 - present
Hometown: Jacksonville, Texas
Party: Republican

Liberty PD Announces Community Education Classes

(LIBERTY, TEXAS) January 16, 2012 - Liberty Police Department is now hosting community education classes on the 2nd Thursday of every month. The classes are free and open to anyone in Liberty County. The class schedule is listed below, followed by the rules of attendance.

Car Seat Safety – State law and regulation, installation, reasons for car seats
February 16
6pm – 7pm
Liberty PD Training Room
Instructor: Sergeant Jeanne Marie Ewing

Sexting – Acronyms kids are using, different gadgets they use to text without a phone
March 8
6pm – 7pm
Liberty PD Training Room
Instructor: Kelley Koch

Internet Safety for Parents – Safety techniques parents can use to monitor children’s use of the internet
April 12
6pm – 7pm
Liberty PD Training Room
Instructor: Officer Jennifer Bowles

Teen Drinking – Statistics on teen drinking and collisions, ways to help teens
May 10
6pm – 7pm
Liberty PD Training Room
Instructor: TBA

Predators – Sex offender laws and registration, warning signs
June 7
6pm – 7pm
Liberty PD Training Room
Instructor: Frances Wood

Self Defense – Strategies, tips and techniques
July 12
6pm – 7pm
Liberty Center in City Hall
Instructor: Officer Wes O’Hanlon

Crime Prevention – Tips to protect your property from burglary
August 9
6pm – 7pm
Liberty PD Training Room
Instructor: Lt. Philip Fairchild

Self Defense – Strategies, tips and techniques
September 13
6pm – 7pm
Liberty Center in City Hall
Instructor: Officer Wes O’Hanlon

Fire Safety – Tips to protect your home from fire
October 11
6pm – 7pm
Liberty PD Training Room
Instructor: Jacob Cantu

Holiday Crime Prevention – Safety tips for shopping, and home protection
November 8
6pm – 7pm
Liberty PD Training Room
Instructor: Lt. Kenneth Taylor

If you would like to register for classes, contact Training Assistant Frances Wood at 936-336-5666, fwood@cityofliberty.org or you can visit www.cityofliberty.org and look under the police department tab.