Lynn Ashby on taxes - Page 3
WEDNESDAY • NOVEMBER 5, 2025
Redistricting
lawyer disputes county attorney’s assertion that he shouldn’t be paid
By Ken Fountain
The outside attorney who advised Fort Bend County’s citizens advisory committee in the recent, highly contentious redistricting effort is challenging County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson’s assertion that his firm’s engagement was illegal and therefore it should not be paid.
In an October 24 letter to the office Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Richard Morris of the Houston-based Rogers, Morris & Groves law firm weighs in on a pending legal opinion from Paxton on whether Smith-Lawson has sole authority over the county’s civil legal affairs, which she maintains and which the Republican majority on Commissioners Court disputes.
Meanwhile, n on in her own May 27 letter, Smith-Lawson weighed in the pending opinion request, which was submitted in April by Republican Texas Rep. Gary Gates, whose 28th District includes much of Fort Bend County.
Whether Morris would be paid was the subject of intense debate between commissioners, SmithLawson and Morris himself during the October 23 Commissioners Court meeting, which ended in a shouting match. That had followed a specially called meeting on October 15, when the court voted along party lines to pass a new map of the county’s four precincts, the culmination of a rare, contentious mid-decade redistricting effort.
Turner under investigation for using county employees to care for elderly mother
By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Fort Bend County Tax Assessor-Collector
Carmen Turner is being investigated for allegations she directed county employees to provide care for her elderly mother while they were on the county’s clock, according to affidavits supporting recently unsealed search warrants. Turner, a Democrat who was first elected to her position in 2020 and reelected in 2024, has not been indicted, according to court records, nor any of the current or former employees who were part of the alleged scheme. The alleged crime would be abuse of official capacity, a felony.
The investigation is being handled by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office because Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton has recused himself because of a prior case he represented Turner on while he was an attorney in private practice, according to Fort Bend County First Assistant District Attorney Wesley Wittig, spokesman for the office. In the search warrants, which were signed by 400th District Judge Edward Krenek on October 15, Karlnetta Coleman, an investigator with the Public Integrity Unit of the Fort
Community rallies after Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels announces delivery cuts
By Juhi Varma CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels announced October 27 that it will cut back its weekly meal deliveries after federal funding reductions and is appealing to the community for support.
“The reduction translates to nearly 70,000 fewer meals over the next year unless we fill the gap,” said Doug Simpson, executive director of Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels. “The five- meal model gives us some flexibility in the short term, but it isn’t a long-term solution.”
Roughly 1,000 homebound seniors in Fort Bend and Waller counties will feel the effects of the change going into the new year.
The community has rallied in response – organizing food drives, pledging donations, and offering support to help bridge the funding gap. H-E-B has pledged $45,000, while NRG and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas have also stepped forward to assist.
“Our community’s response has been deeply moving,” Simpson said.
Fort Bend County Tax Assessor-Collector Carmen Turner is being investigated for directing county employee to care for her elderly mother while being paid by the county. Here, she is seen speaking to Commissioners Court during a meeting last month.
Photo by Ken Fountain
nonprofit announced last week. Courtesy Fort Bend Seniors Meals
Application has been made with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for a Mixed Beverage Permit by Hannibal Anderson dba The VaultX, LLC, to be located at 300 Morton Street, Richmond, Texas. Officers of said corporation Ken Tisdel and Hannibal Anderson are Owner/Manager of The VaultX.
Ensuring timely and comfortable non-emergency medical transportation for seniors, individuals with disabilities, and those in need of assisted travel.
with
and care at the heart of every ride. We believe access to healthcare should never depend on mobility - and every client deserves to feel seen, supported, and secure. Our vision is to grant access not just to rides but to independence and peace of mind - through every mile we drive.
THE BALLOT – Should I vote to give Gov. Greg Abbott the power to take over the State Commission on Judicial Conduct? No. More money for water? Proposition 4 would create a fund for water projects which would receive $1 billion of the state’s sales tax revenue every year. That may be a drop in the bucket, so to speak. Experts estimate Texas will need to spend $154 billion on water infrastructure over the next 50 years, especially as the state lures industries like AI data centers and semiconductor plants that drink up vast amounts of our precious H2O. I vote yes. Proposition 14 would establish a $3 billion fund to support research into dementia and related diseases. I think I feel very strongly about this, but can’t remember. More than half of the 17 constitutional amendments on the ballot this fall deal with taxation – tax breaks for homeowners. I am one, so I vote yes. Proposition 7 would provide some homestead exemption to the surviving spouse of a veteran who died from a disease or medical condition related to their service. Proposition 17 would provide property tax
The moment I walk into the school doors, I’m feeling as confident as can be. My new skirt looks amazing, and nothing in this world could bring me down. As I walk through the hallways before class begins, I’m suddenly stopped. No, it isn’t a compliment, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s a dress code case. Humiliation and frustration all bundled up into one stupid, pale yellow nurse’s pass, which I’m forced to carry all the way back down the hall. The school dress code is something every girl fears.
REDISTRICT FROM PAGE 1
The Republican majority voted to pay Morris’s firm, but Smith-Lawson said the county auditor was not authorized to disburse the funds.
In her own 12-page letter, Smith-Lawson reiterates the arguments she has made since the Republican majority on Commissioners Court first broached the idea of hiring Morris, whose firm is known primarily for its work for public school districts, over the firm she had recommended.
Smith-Lawson, citing numerous court opinions and previous attorneys general opinions dating back decades, asserts that under state law, Fort Bend County is one of only nine counties in Texas where the county attorney’s office has exclusive authority to handle the county’s civil matters.
“The Fort Bend County Commissioners Court does not have the authority to select a law firm to assist with redistricting County election precincts over the Fort Bend County Attorney’s objection,” she writes.
This year’s full redistricting began after Republican Texas Rep. Matt Morgen, who also represents part of Fort Bend County, sent a letter in February to Commissioners Court stating that many of the county’s voting precincts - which are distinct from commissioner precincts - did not meet state law requirements because they had either too few or too many voters.
Furthermore, Smith-Lawson writes, “it is the Fort bend County Attorney’s primary and exclusive duty to hire a law firm to assist with redistricting voter precincts.”
Lynn Ashby Columnist
Taxes our taxes
breaks for homeowners whose property has been affected by security projects along the Mexican border. Then there’s Proposition 10, which would provide a temporary property tax breaks for people whose homes are destroyed by fire. How about Proposition 15? It would add into our state constitution parents’ rights and responsibilities to raise their children without meddling by the state government. Parents already have those rights, so this is one of those meaningless, feel-good measures our legislators trot out to make us think they are doing something meaningful. It’s like in 2019 when Texans voted to ban state income taxes. We don’t have a state income tax. We never have, as we
proudly proclaim to out-ofstaters thinking of moving here. Elon Musk springs to mind. We don’t mention that in the last legislative session our lawmakers passed a $338 billion budget for the next two years. That money came from someone. Us. But that 2019 law meant if the state wanted to start collecting taxes on our income, both lawmakers and voters would need to overturn the constitutional amendment. At this point you may be wondering: “I’m a good, voting citizen. But I’m busy – my sock drawer needs re-arranging and ‘You Bet Your Parents’ is about to start, so why are you bothering me with decisions on whether some rancher on the Rio can deduct his anti-immigrant land mines.” (Proposition 17). It’s because we don’t trust our lawmakers. Nor should we. Texas was founded by rugged individuals who didn’t want the government messing with Texans. That is until a hurricane, fire, flood or a horde of locusts comes to town. (This reminds me of the time when a South Carolina Congressman was holding a town meeting and some guy shouted: “Tell
Washington to keep its hands off my Medicare!”)
This micro-managing means Texas voters have to make most decisions about our state government by voting on changes to our constitution. For comparison, the U.S. Constitution contains about 4,500 words. It has been amended only 27 times. It is both the shortest and oldest constitution in the world. In stark contrast, the Texas Constitution has grown to over 97,000 words. This makes it one of the longest state constitutions in the United States. The Texas Constitution has been amended 530 times. In case you are wondering, not everything is bigger in Texas. Alabama’s constitution contains approximately 389,000 words.
Back here in Texas, the amendment process goes like this: Each one was passed by at least a two-thirds majority in the Legislature. Then we vote, and each proposition needs only a simple majority to pass. The proposed changes will appear on all ballots statewide, though some ballots may also contain local elections or propositions. Incidentally,
the constitution only lists one single job our lawmakers are required to do: pass a budget. Everything else is, well, debatable.
Speaking of budgets, our legislators started out this last session floating in cash. We had a record $24 billion surplus which is larger –yes, larger – than the entire budgets for several lesser states such as Colorado and Louisiana. Don’t worry. Our gang managed to spend some of it. Like Gov. Greg Abbott’s two favorite and obsessive projects: private schools and the border. The tab for the first year for taxpayer-supported private schools will be $1 billion which is expected to balloon to $4.6 billion per year by 2030. We hired a NYC firm to dish out the goodies. That job will cost between $46 and $50 million, I get different figures, for the next two years. We all want a secure border with Mexico so long as deportations don’t include our maids, lawn keepers and the back staff at our restaurants, but the cost is enormous. And, no, Mexico is not going to pay for it. Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, or OLS for those hanging
The cost of a skirt
Cannon Youth Columnist
Of course, it affects the boys as well- but not to the same extent. According to the Fort Bend ISD dress code policy, “Dresses, jumpers, skirts, and skorts may be worn at a length that is slightly below mid-thigh” and “Shorts may
be worn at a length that is approximately mid-thigh”. That seems reasonable, right? Wrong. The average teenage girl is around 5’4, and that’s what the code is based off of. But what if you’re anything other than average? Shorts may come up much shorter on taller girls, like myself, than they would normally fall on a standard height sixteen-year-old. As you probably already know, (if you’ve ever picked up a textbook, that is), women have been oppressed for decades, if not centuries. Put
down. Humiliated. Treated as inferior. The dress code might not look like a protest sign or a courtroom law, but it carries the same message of control. It tells girls that their bodies are distractions which need to be managed, that they are not people to be respected. A simple forced change of outfits is really suppression in disguise. Lowering someone’s self-confidence goes far beyond a singular handbook rule. It picks at the root of insecurity which is so deeply engraved within each and every teenage girl.
around a Home Depot, is at least $11 billion, and this last Legislature allocated another $4.8 billion. Some funds have been spent paying the Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard (those not fighting the Battle of Chicago). More tax dollars cover transporting more than 100,000 migrants to cities outside of Texas, planting 70,000 rolls of razor wire and duckies in the Rio Grande, erecting 100 miles of unconnected walls – yes, there are big gaps in the walls but don’t tell the smugglers – and starting construction on a military base in Eagle Pass, which could cost more than $400 million by 2026. The base would house 1,800 National Guard troops “to respond to Biden’s border crisis.” Abbott says construction of the base will save taxpayer dollars from being spent on temporary housing or deployment. Our U.S. senators are trying to wrestle $11.1 billion from the feds to repay us, but it seems that money is going to pay for Donald Trump’s legal bills and a White House ballroom. Ashby pays taxes at ashby2@comcast.net
Dressing how you’d like and expressing yourself isn’t a privilege – it’s a right. A First Amendment right, to be exact. The dress code isn’t only a violation of our privacy, but of our dignity and individuality as students and young women. It sends the message that what we wear is much more important than our learning and our well-being. So, here I am, sitting in first period forced to wear these ugly, ratty leggings. They were all the nurse’s office had at the time. That’s the end of the dress code case – or it should be. Except the only thing I can think about is how utterly tacky I must seem, the itch of the legging fabric, and the heat that can’t seem to leave my cheeks. Cannon is a Ridge Point High School student, class of 2028, a volleyball player, and a member of Jenni’s Rescue. If you are a Fort Bend County high-school-age student (public, private, charter, or homeschool) who might be interested in becoming a Youth Columnist, please send an email to editor@fortbendstar.com.
“Continuing those efforts, the County Attorney now asserts the extraordinary position that she alone may provide legal advice to the Commissioners Court,” Morris writes. “To enforce this view, she has directed County staff to dishonor the Commissioners Court-approved agreement with our firm for legal services related to redistricting.”
“This position is untenable.
Having publicly opposed the redistricting effort, the County Attorney now claims that only a law firm of her choosing can provide legal counsel regarding it. It is a remarkable proposition that a lawyer with an obvious and inherent conflict of interest may prevent her client from seeking independent legal advice on a nonjudicial matter,” he writes.
“This attempt to restrict the Commissioners Court’s authority to obtain independent legal counsel is both alarming and legally unfounded. It implies that her office possesses exclusive authority over all legal matters involving the Commissioners Court-even where the Court’s constitutional duties are directly implicated,” he writes.
Morris goes on to cite different statutes and case law that he says invalidates SmithLawson’s assertions.
“In this instance, the Commissioners Court has neither exceeded its authority nor invaded the County Attorney’s sphere of responsibility. Its powers include the authority to contract with experts – including attorney – when necessary to accomplish legitimate county,” he writes in his conclusion.
Although in an April 25 response to Gates the attorney general’s office said that the due date for the requested opinion was October 22 (unless Paxton notifies Gates that the opinion would be delayed), no such opinion was issued by Monday, the Fort Bend Star’s deadline.
Attempts to reach the Attorney General’s press office were unsuccessful by deadline.
In his own 6-page letter on behalf of his firm, Morris writes that Smith-Lawson, a Democrat, has “taken public positions adverse to her client in connection with the redistricting process, leading the Republican majority to conclude that she has placed the interests of her office and political affiliation above her duty to the Commissioners Court as its legal counsel.”
Makenzi
“When partners like grocery retailer H-E-B, NRG, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, and the Girl Scouts step forward, it reminds us what compassion looks like in action. Their generosity is keeping meals on the table and hope alive for seniors who depend on us. It’s proof that this community takes care of its own.”
Girl Scout Troop 154018 organized a food drive in which 12 Brownie Girl Scouts collected 258 items for Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels, focusing on high-need staples such as canned chicken, tuna, tomato sauce, green beans, corn, and fruit.
The troop participates in community service projects twice a year, and this was their first time donating food to Meals on Wheels, said troop leaders Mallory Johnson-Ferguson and Elizabeth Dimas.
“We received correspondence stating the need for donations through the San Jacinto Girl Scout Council and answered the call by organizing a drop-off/ girl-collected food drive,” they said in a written statement. “Donation flyers were created, and scouts shared the flyers with family, friends, teachers, and neighbors. Our goal for this project was to target hunger in our very own county and assist those most in need.”
“When I saw what the Girl Scouts had done, it truly touched my heart,” Simpson said. “These young girls showed the kind of kindness and lead-
TURNER FROM PAGE 1
Bend prosecutor’s office, seeks two cell phones owned by two people who allegedly acted as caregivers for Turner’s mother. Krenek had in September signed a search warrant for investigators to obtain a cell phone belonging to Turner’s sister, who lives in a Houston apartment with their mother, according to the affidavits.
Coleman writes that in January, the Fort Bend County Auditor’s Office contacted her division regarding the allegations against Turner based on a tip from a former employee of Turner who had been fired. The auditor’s office investigated the allegations and drafted
ership that gives me hope for the future. Their food drive reminded everyone that you’re never too young to make a difference. They brought smiles not only to our seniors, but to our entire team.”
How the cuts unfolded Simpson said the nonprofit learned of the funding reduction in mid-October through the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC), which admin-
an audit report. According to that report, Coleman writes, the former employee alleged that two other employees were acting as caregivers for Turner’s mother at the Houston apartment while on the clock for the county.
Coleman writes that after reviewing timesheets and computer logon records, she found that between October 2023 and June 2024, the two employees only “clocked” in and out using their cell phones, not at their respective work sites, against county policy.
Another former employee of Turner’s told Coleman she overheard Turner speaking over a cell phone during a car trip to Waco giving instructions to one employee about
isters the Older Americans Act (OAA) funds.
“The news was unexpected and significant,” he said. “My first reaction was concern for the seniors who depend on these meals every day.”
Federal funding through the OAA will be reduced by about 50%, FBS said in its October 27 release, resulting in a loss of more than $440,000 for its home-delivered meal program. The change will go into effect
bringing Turner’s mother to a doctor’s appointment, according to the affidavits.
Coleman writes that she learned that one of the two employees holds a nurse’ aide license and a medical radiology technician certification, while the other operated a home health care business.
Based on her analysis of the payroll records, Coleman writes, she concluded that the two employees “were paid a gross total of $27,000.56 in county funds while caring for Turner’s mother over a period of approximately eight months. Attempts to reach Turner for comment by the Fort Bend Star were unsuccessful.
The investigation was first reported by KPRC-TV.
January 1.
Reducing deliveries from seven to five meals a week, Simpson said, will allow the organization to continue reaching every senior while it works to rebuild its funding base.
The OAA Nutrition Program is the main source of federal funding for the Meals on Wheels network, covering about 37% of the cost of serving more than 2 million seniors each year, according to organization’s
website. The share each local provider receives varies by state, depending on its specific funding formula and mix of federal support.
Beyond nutrition:
connection and care
Simpson stressed that the two lost meals each week mean more than a nutritional gap.
“Every meal we deliver is designed specifically for older adults — balanced, portion-
controlled, and guided by the latest nutrition and hydration standards,” he explained. “For many of our seniors, our driver is the only person they see all day. It’s not just about calories; it’s about care, dignity, and human contact.”
FBS staff and volunteers are preparing for the January transition, Simpson said. Letters notifying clients of the schedule change went out last week. Although the new funding levels have already taken effect, the organization postponed implementation until the new year to give seniors and families time to prepare.
“We’ve been humbled by the response,” Simpson said. “People understand that these are their parents, grandparents, and neighbors. We need to remember them — to make sure they’re seen, heard, and cared for.”
A call to action
For fifty years, Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels has worked to ensure that no senior in the community goes hungry or feels forgotten. Now, the organization is asking residents, businesses, and civic groups to join their efforts by donating, volunteering, or sponsoring a meal route.
“This moment calls on all of us to stand together for our seniors,” Simpson said. “With your support, we can continue to Feed Our Seniors and keep hope alive for those who depend on us most.” For more information or to donate, visit fortbendseniors.org. Varma can be reached at juhi.varma@gmail.com.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
John 14:27
Girl Scout Troop 154018 participate in a food drive in which 12 Brownie Girl Scouts collected 258 items for Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels. Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels
LEADER PUZZLER SOLUTIONS
