A few things

A coupe of things here- I have been removed from my radio shows until after the Justice of the Peace election (in which I am running) is decided, at least in the primary (which decides most races here in Presidio County- the last all-blue county in Texas). FCC rules changed from "equal time" to "equal access" which means whatever you want it to mean, basically. That's how State Sen Dan Patrick (who is running for Gov Lite) gets to spout off all the time without counterpoint on KSEV 700 in Houston. Weak. Anyway, we're talking the high road out here on Public Radio and I am off until at least March 4th. There will be an article in the Big Bend Sentinel this week covering it, I understand. Online at www.bigbendnow.com - the best source for Marfa and Far West Texas news. I lost a short battle last night at City Council over the "oversight committee" for the Sheriff's Dept. This was with regard to the law enforcement contract Marfa has with the Sheriff that we renew every year with few changes. it's worked well thus far and at issue was a never-convened committee that would field complaints, take and make observations and basically function as a toothless sounding board for citizen complaints. No power, no authority. Anyway, it's my opinion that the committee has value as just that- a sounding board and way to register complaints. My colleagues see it as a distraction and a potential negative in city-law enforcement relations. I can see their point but stood my ground. As it was, I lost in a 2-1 vote, so now the contract goes to the County Commissioners' Court for ratification as amended. I think it will pass and that will be it but we'll see. I am beginning to campaign aggressively for Justice of the Peace. I have already met with a number of people who deal with that office on a regular basis and have received some good feedback. Current judge Cinderela Guevara has done a really good job over the years of being consistent and fair, and that is paramount in the day to day operations of the office. I think I can add a bit of my flavor on the juvenile justice side, in particular communicating with local prosecutors, MISD, the County Judge and law enforcement to try to keep delinquent kids in the local system (aka Presidio County) as long as possible before referring them to the regional Juvenile Detention folks in Pecos and Ft Stockton. This could be a lofty goal, but the people I have spoken with seem to think we could make a difference in some cases with some of these kids. Anyway, that's what I am bringing to the table aside from being competent and capable of making decisions and being fair. I have been on the line with Barry Tubb in the last few days and will be stashing a couple of Aistreams at his property outside of town for a while during this election campaign to appease the Catholics and other locals. I'll also be putting Murgatroyd into cold storage since its exhaust system is shot and I don't have time to fool with it right now. Airstreamland in general will be cleaned up, most stuff thrown out besides recycling, and should look a lot better soon. This morning I'm writing this because it's a little too cold to work outside right now, but that's about to change, so I'm wrapping up this post. Lastly in my book of a million things I'm doing is that I am halfway through the interior renovation, including new flooring, in Boyz2Men. the front panels are pulled off so I can move a commercial refrigerator into the coach, and new roof vents and a new skylight will be installed. Additional electric circuits will be as well so we can run an extra hot tea urn and cinnamon roll warmer. Should be good. We'll be closed this weekend and will re-open next weekend with the full menu- hopefully all 15 pages. WORD Dabeed