Hart Notes
Hart Notes
by Neoma Williams
May 5, 2022
{private] Well, folks, I am trying to write Hart Notes. I know I have been a horrible reporter since Covid struck, and have not informed you of what is happening in Hart, or what I know is happening. I will give you some news in this column and do some editorializing.
Early voting for the school board election is winding down at the administrative wing of Hart school. The election is Saturday, May 7, from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. at the Hart Golden Group. Tiffany Bradford will serve as election judge, assisted by Kelbi Hernandez.
There are three seats up for election, those now held by Mary Ann Carrasco, Julissa Chavez and Angelica Ramirez; these three have filed for re-election. Also on the ballot are Jose Macias and Jesus Longoria. I did post a story on this and about those who have filed for the City Council.
I received a phone call several weeks ago from a Hart resident, informing me that there are property owners near the school that are allowing presumably unlicensed student-drivers to park on their property and walk to school. This is being done obviously because the students can’t get a permit from the school to operate a vehicle on school grounds because they have no driver’s license. I was backed over, if you recall, on September 14, 2012, by a 15 yoa, unlicensed student-driver.
Now for reasons I don’t know, the school didn’t have a policy regarding student-drivers before my accident; the school board in place after I was backed over adopted one. The students who qualify for a permit have a valid driver’s license and have proof of vehicle liability insurance. There now are eight such students.
I don’t know who all the property owners are who aid and abet students and parents to violate Texas law are, but the main one is the school board president, Mary Ann Carrasco. One of the other board members agrees with me and said she has confronted Carrasco about this, obviously to no avail. There are all kinds of liability here for the parents of the unlicensed students, and for the property owners, and as I said in open forum, for the City of Hart. The City Council opted a few years ago to not renew the agreement between the City and Castro County to provide local law enforcement. Having a law enforcement peace officer show up at the school during times when students are driving would be beneficial.
The blatant disregard for the law by these property owners is mind-boggling.
Hart Days…I will get you you up to date on what I know. In 2020, there was no Hart Days because of Covid. This decision was made by Neoma Williams, Aurelia Perez, Ramona Neudorf and Paul and Angie Ramirez. Also, the City did not allow the fire department to have its mud-bogging in the City limits. Well, the same aforementioned Hart Days folks decided last year to again not to have Hart Days because of Covid. I remind you I have been helping with Hart Days since 1983, and Aurelia came on board a few years after that. Well, the City Council last year, primarily at the urging of Council member Vickie Ethridge, voted to have Hart Days. The City has no such authority to do this. And, Neudorf reneged on her decision to not have Hart Days and participated in it. Nathan Ivey has “taken over” the event. Aurelia and I have not resigned because we are the official Hart Days coordinators. You would think more people would balk at what the City did, and installing Ivey (in sorts) to head up the event. There no longer is any money left in the Hart Days account that we managed. The bank account has been closed, and most of the money had been spent on Christmas decorations for the City of Hart. The remaining amount, a little over $800, was donated to the Hart Golden Group. It is shameful that Ivey has appointed himself Hart Days with the blessings of the City Council, and apparently, gets no pushback.
I hope you all know how perilous America and its democracy finds itself. Don’t take it for granted. There are people like donald trump (note the intentional lack of capitals) who want to destroy our democracy. He and his minions tried to steal the election. I hope you realize how dangerous it was on January 6, 2021. Surely you aren’t comfortable with the state legislators changing your votes. Surely you want a decent person in the White House. Remember the Democrats brought you FDIC, Social Security, farm programs, Medicare, Voting Rights Act (now being destroyed by the Republicans), Women’s Suffrage, GI Bill, NATO, Marshall Plan, Obamacare, etc. And now with a few Republicans, infrastructure that has been badly needed. And, some Republicans, even if they voted against the bill, are telling their constituents what they have done for them. This is the party of family values? Ha!!
The Republicans brought us the most inept, despicable POTUS ever—trump!!
What about Roe versus Wade? You do know that this came about because Jane Roe (Norma Jean McCorvey, who lived in Dallas at the time) wanted an abortion, which was illegal in Texas. Two female attorneys, Linda Coffee and Sarah Waddington, took the case to the Supreme Court. The Wade in the case was Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County. I hope you also know that women have been having abortions from the beginning of time. They didn’t start with Roe. If Roe is overturned, women who can’t get a legal abortion where they live, will likely go somewhere that could be unsafe. Women in America who got abortions before it was legalized sometimes died. Women with the means will find a way to get a legal abortion, and, as usual, those who can’t, mostly poor women and women of color, will seek other, usually unsafe means. If you don’t believe in abortion, don’t take the right from others.
The mostly white evangelicals, who comprise 14% of America, have been wanting this overturn of Roe forever. I grew up in the Baptist church, and my parents and I were and are not crazy evangelicals. I sometimes want to leave the evangelical movement because I often find it reprehensible. Do you know that 70% of Americans want Roe left alone? And, do you know that over 50% of Roman Cathollcs think abortion should be legal. Overall, all religions, except the extreme evangelicals, want abortion to remain legal and safe. How difficult is that to comprehend? It is not!
Why didn’t the GOP get infrastructure done? They had chances to do it but didn’t. Their claim to fame during trump was to give the very wealthy tax breaks, resulting in these people seldom paying income taxes. How crazy is that!
What about the ridiculous Ron D’Santis, Florida governor? He doesn’t want those who have student loans to get help. He spends his time, as do most crazy Republicans, fighting culture wars instead of really doing something for his state’s citizens. Why doesn’t he help Floridians get cheaper insulin? He says that truck drivers and waitresses don’t want to help pay for student loans of those who majored in gender studies. There is a major called gender studies and there is nothing wrong with that. But, I doubt many major in this. D’Santis wants to make it look like some elitists want their student loans forgiven. Well, speaking of elitists, Ron went to Yale and then got his law degree from Harvard. Well, Ron, that is major elitism.
And, there is Ted Cruz, who should not get one more vote after running off to Cancun, while some of his fellow Houstonians died from the extreme cold. He does nothing but throw bombs. Why doesn’t he use his loud, obnoxious mouth to help Texans? He recently ranted about CRT, which most of us had never heard of until the GOP got some easily duped folks into thinking that the Democrats want their kids taught CRT. CRT is a college course, usually a graduate level course. It is meant to make one think. Come to find out, Ted’s kids, who go to school in Houston at a fancy, private school are taught CRT. And, smart ass Ted didn’t know this.
And, many legal scholars say that if Roe is overturned, the GOP will go after contraception, interracial marriage (think Clarence Thomas), same sex marriage…
That should send shivers down your spine! Pay attention! And, since trump appointed supremes who told him they would overturn Roe, don’t think that he gives a damn about abortions. He very likely has paid for some. He has no norms…if you can’t see that, then I hope you are in the waning majority because America deserves better. There are too many trump freaks!
Don’t put Gregg Abbott back in office. Too many GOP governors went out of their way to make Covid worse, interfering with school boards wanting masking, etc. You do know Covid is still here and America has finally reached over a million recorded Covid deaths. That is horrible and thanks to many trump freaks, this is what happens when you don’t listen to science. trump advised drinking bleach and putting light bulbs in your body. And,. you do know he is fully vaccinated and boosted, as are many of these aforementioned governors. You need to return sanity to the governorship of Texas. Why didn’t the GOP legislature listen to what they were told years back and that is to winterize the electric grid and the natural gas portion of the grid. I would guess the big companies told the Republicans to not do this because they didn’t want to spend money to make Texans safe. And, look what happened…some Texans died because of this. Think any of these legislators or the governor lost any sleep over that? Of course not!
Vote for Beto O’Rourke! The Republicans have led us the wrong way. And, why did some of you vote for Ken Paxton, who is under indictment for financial shenanigans. Some people would vote for the devil if he had an R next to his name! [/private]