A Jeffersonian In East Texas

I am not sure how this happened, but Smith county Commissioners still don’t seem to understand the fact that voters do not want a new jail until incarceration rates are lowered to something below the level of an East block or Nazi regime. It is possible that voters could see the new jailhouse super lite on the November ballot, or, maybe not!

There is talk that this may skip the ballot box altogether and go straight to a certificate of obligation, the ultimate expression of the arrogance of power and authority, and a demonstration of the complete disdain for the will of those who will be forced to pay for it!

It may be half the cost of the last bond, which was half the cost of the one before, but that is not the whole issue. As we have stated before, it is not the cost that is the issue, well at least not all of it. The problem is that the system is slow, archaic, medieval, Jurassic, and antediluvian. It is so slow, that it travels back in time. There are not sufficient courts to process the inmates in the current jail, much less a new, larger addition which will be filled the day it opens. We should deal with the core problems before adding more cells. Stop arresting sidewalk spitters  and other petty offenses, and give them a ticket instead, have them appear before a judge, and if they don’t, arrest them then. Even our legislators in Austin understand this, why cant Smith county?

So, we may be up for another jail election, or maybe not.

I have one suggestion to Smith county voters if the commissioners decide to go with the certificate of obligation: Clean house! Do not re-elect a single one of them when his or her term is up. Maybe then, they would get the message!

In a thinly veiled attempt to push the Smith county jail bond, the Tyler paper has once again presented us with a course on how not to be balanced in reporting! If it was an attempt to be balanced, it failed miserably! Just more of the same mainstream media madness, that we have come to expect on this issue.

The title is of interest however: “Smith County Jail Bond: What Are We Paying For?” It is a good question! Well, here is the real answer:

• We are paying for a lawyer to fight against us while representing the interests of a small group of political elitists in our county.

• We are paying the salaries of a small group of political elitists in our county who want to keep information from us on an issue that we are expected to cast ballots on in a few days.
• We paid their salaries while they held secret meetings in violation of the states open meeting act.
• We are paying for jail overcrowding which they themselves could have prevented if they had really wanted to.
• We are paying the costs of the Attorney General spending time fighting them against us.