THAT Yellow Shirt Lady
By
Natalie Ward
You can learn a lot of interesting things by attending the Montgomery County Commissioner’s Court meetings (if you missed it this week, you can watch online here:
https://montgomerycountytx.swagit.com/play/07092019-628.) Here are the top things I learned at the meeting on Tuesday July 9, 2019:
1.
I learned that this Court openly mixes religion with government by including an “opening prayer” immediately after the call to order.
2.
The Montgomery County Veterans Memorial Commission has an incredibly detailed mission to create a memorial near I-45 and Hwy 105.
3.
All previous members of the Child Welfare Board have resigned and four new members were appointed to take their place,
4.
The County Attorney was approved to take civil action against Orphan Care Solutions also next year’s proposed budget for Montgomery County is almost $367 million. Our County tax bill will decrease even as the budget increases (slightly).
5.
The county has budgeted $30 million dollars for the Joe Corley Detention Center (run by the private prison company The GEO Group, Inc); this is a pass-thru amount because ICE pays Montgomery County and then the County pays The GEO Group, Inc.
6.
HB 1325 is referred to as the “hemp bill” according to District Attorney Brett Ligon.
Mr. Ligon gave folders of material to each Commissioner, the County Judge and to ONE private citizen in the room Eric Yollick, the owner of “The Golden Hammer” blog. Mr. Yollick was sitting directly to my right. No one else in the audience was offered a packet of information until after the Executive Session began and only when they specifically requested it.
After Mr. Ligon’s presentation, the Court convened their Executive Session. I took that time to discuss the needs of my subdivision and one adjoining subdivision with Commissioner Riley’s Chief of Staff, Bruce Berger. I told Mr. Ligon that marijuana legalization was very personal to me. My son had a co-worker who had introduced him to “synthetic marijuana” sold legally in almost every smoke shop in the area as “potpourri.” He chose to smoke it because he woud no test positive for marijuana at his job. Less than a month after he began smoking 100% legal “potpourri” my son had a massive psychotic break. He was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and a host of other mental issues that were not present prior to his use of synthetic marijuana. I told all of this to Mr. Ligon. What I did NOT tell Mr. Ligon was that I blamed him, the county, the state or anyone else for my son’s choices. Nothing even remotely resembling “a refusal to accept responsibility for actions and the consequences that flow from them” never entered my brain, let alone left my lips.
It is disrespectful for a District Attorney to write an “exposé” about a constituent and publish it on a highly partisan blog. Our yellow shirts make us easy to spot in a crowd. We were at Commissioner’s Court this week in support of opening Countywide Polling Places in Montgomery County on Election Day. You can watch public comments at the end of Tuesday’s session to hear what four citizens had to say in favor of such voting centers.
