Fr ee
The
Lewisville Texan Journal
Vol. 4, No. 50
L ife and L iber ty in the L one Star State
L ewisvilleTexan.or g
M onday December 31, 2018
BEST OF 2018
Chin population seeks refuge in L ewisville after decades of per secution, abuse in Bur ma M arch 28, 2018 By JAM ES NORM AN Norman@LewisvilleTexan.org
Nestled in Lewisville is a community of almost 4,000 people from the Chin State
of Myanmar. Coming as refugees, this population has been persecuted and abused due to their race and religion. Today, this population represents one of the largest minority groups in the city
and Chin is the third most spoken language in Lewisville ISD. While they have come for a better life, obtaining it has had its share of trials.
in
These events for the Chin population date to 1948 when Myanmar, formerly
Burma, broke away from the colonial rule of Great Britain. After 14 years, a military coup ensued and led to almost 50 years of rule by Continued on P4
L I SD walked fine line on advocacy
LTJ documents Creekside violations, city steps in P6 and 7
August 31, 2018 By L EOPOL D K NOPP Knopp@LewisvilleTexan.org
The Creekside M obile Home Par k, which was subj ect to scr utiny for sever al year s because if its frequent water outages, has repor tedly had sever al improvements made to its system in the past few months with more on the way. (Photo by Steve Southwell)
New Denton County state rep. accused of making r acially char ged remar ks November 15, 2018 By CEL ESTE GRACI A and L EOPOL D K NOPP
In the aftermath of her election to the Texas House of Representatives, numerous allegations of racially charged comments have come up against District 65?s Michelle Beckley (D- Carrollton). The Lewisville Texan Journal has independently corroborated several troubling, racially charged remarks attributed to Beckley, including two independent and apparently distinct reports of her saying that the practice of lynching should make a comeback* . Angie Cadena, the newly elected chair of the Denton County Democratic Party (DCDP), said she did not know how to hold Beckley accountable, though she did say that volunteers who did
Per secution M yanmar
The Lewisville Texan Journal has obtained documents sent by Lewisville ISD to the Texas Attorney General?s office in response to that office?s open records request in February. The documents show that school district officials were keenly aware of what they could and could not say while advocating for voting. On Feb. 14, assistant attorney general Cleve Doty sent a cease-and-desist letter to LISD superintendent Kevin Rogers and board president Angie Cox that accused the district of electioneering, or using
public funds to advocate for particular candidates or a particular political viewpoint. The Attorney General?s office also sent letters to Holliday and Brazosport ISDs. The cease-and-desist letter specifically mentioned a Feb. 6 tweet that read ?We are asking for support from our state Legislature. We?re not getting it. It?s time for change,? as well as a video in which Rogers urged staff members and the public to use their ?teacher voice? in the primary election. The letter asked the school district to remove those posts. Continued on P3
Farewell for now, againLTJ shuts down, P2
Newly elected state representative M ichelle Beckley has been accused of making sever al troubling remar ks
not want to work with Beckley were no longer required to do so after allegations of racism became explicit. The allegations against
Beckley, which she has denied, first came out last Friday, when the Young Democrats of Denton County Continued on P3
Farewell for now
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A time to step back December 12, 2018 By STEVE SOUTHWEL L editor@LewisvilleTexan.org
You haven?t seen my name on many story bylines lately. As I sit to write this today, I am suffering from the same massive case of writer?s block I?ve had for months. Maybe it?s the health issues that have dogged me this year, or the burnout and stress of my full time day job, or the fact that money seems to be a constant issue. It just doesn?t seem fun to write much anymore. Last October, finances led to us shutting down the press-printed edition of The Lewisville Texan Journal, ending our two-year attempt at creating a commercially viable newspaper. Within a couple of weeks, donors had stepped up to get us going again as a nonprofit. But that process was not smooth. I?ll spare you the long and ridiculous story, but papers we thought had been filed to form our 501(c)(3) were not filed as we were told. We discovered this right around the time we came to realize that we were going to face a big decrease in financial support. We have been very thrifty in running the LTJ, but when you face a large deficit, it doesn?t take long to get in a tight spot. We increased the appeals for donations, but that was ultimately not successful in closing the gap. I?ve put in so much of my own money and time to this, but I?m no longer able to sustain it. We have now come to a second point of reckoning, and the conclusion is that we are not viable as a nonprofit at this time. Perhaps in more capable hands, or with someone who has more time, or a cultivated list of wealthy and philanthropic friends, it could find success. But I
think I?ve given it all I can muster at this stage. The Lewisville Texan Journal is winding down its operations, and will cease regular publication by the end of the month. We will unfortunately have to let our managing editor, Leopold Knopp, go. I want to thank all of the community members who believed in us and supported us over the years with their story tips, subscriptions, donations and advertisements. We could not have gotten as far without you, and I just wish we had more like you. You understood the importance of our mission, and why an informed community is a better community. I wish we had been able to keep it going for you. We believe in and support the Lewisville community, and have always strived to make it a better place by keeping our citizens informed. We are proud of having been able to make a difference. Over the next couple of weeks, we?ll work on wrapping up stories of importance to our city. In the coming days, I?ll be turning off all of our donors? monthly recurring donations. My intent is to keep the website and Facebook page alive for the time being. I don?t have long range plans, and don?t want to make any hasty decisions, but what I do know is that I need a few months off from this. I know that in some way, I?ll be back next year to find new avenues to serve my community. Maybe I?ll blog. Maybe I?ll write satire. Maybe I?ll focus on just the stories that other news outlets are not covering. Maybe I?ll just work a lot of overtime and try to pay off some of the debt we have incurred on this. You might have some questions. Here are some answers:
Publisher Steve Southwell steve@LewisvilleTexan.org Managing Editor Leopold Knopp knopp@LewisvilleTexan.org Business Manager Jennifer Southwell jen@LewisvilleTexan.org Send letters to the editor to editor@LewisvilleTexan.org Send local calendar events to calendar@LewisvilleTexan.org
Q. Will the police scanner and blotter stay online? Yes, these services will remain online for the foreseeable future. Q. What about LTJ?s stor ies and archives? Our current website and our archives of stories will stay online for the foreseeable future. Q. What about LTJ?s Facebook and Twitter ? We?ll stay online with our social media accounts. Look for us to share and retweet items of interest to the community. We?ll probably share stories from outlets that were previously our competitors. Q. Will you still accept donations? Yes, but any donations received from this point forward would be used to pay the salary of our managing editor through the end of the year. Any excess would be used to reimburse the publisher for several thousand dollars of
expenses. Unless we had someone willing to step forward with a commitment of about $35,000 a year or more, it wouldn?t be enough to get started again. Q. What if you j ust did _______ to r aise money. Over the past year, we?ve had plenty of ideas, but very little time and energy to develop them. We have tried out several ideas that have not been successful. At this time, I just need some time away from it. Maybe we?ll come back later and try something else, but it?s hard to focus on producing the news while also figuring out how to pay for it. It?s worth noting that most newspapers have two staffs. One deals with editorial, while the other deals with advertising or funding. Either of those are plenty for a team to handle, but it didn?t work out having one person worry about both. Q. Can you sell adver tising? Nope. Been there, done
that. I?m not a salesperson, and have not had any luck at hiring any. Selling is a beatdown, and the advertising media market is beyond saturated. Not only that, but advertisers prefer to invest in publications that don?t rock the boat. Print advertising used to carry somewhat decent rates, but the cost of printing exceeded the cost of writers, and we couldn?t earn enough to pay for printing, much less the writers. Online advertising is so cheap that publishers like us who target a very narrow audience don?t earn enough each month to do much more than cover a day or two of a writer?s salary. File photo by Steve Southwell
Q. Will you sell the paper to someone else? The Lewisville Texan Journal is owned by Lewisville Public Media Corporation, a nonprofit entity. We?d be open to letting someone else come in and try to resurrect it, but only if they can bring forward a plan to serve the community and keep it funded.
I t's time to step back. Farewell from the LTJ.
The L ewisville Texan Jour nal
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L ife and L iber ty in the L one Star State SM L ewisvilleTexan.or g -- 469-322-4265 I SSN 2380-7253 (Pr int) ? I SSN 2380-7261 (Online)
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City Council candidates debate at M usic City M all M arch 25, 2018 By JAM ES NORM AN
Music City Mall hosted a city council debate moderated by The Lewisville Texan Journal publisher Steve Southwell Thursday evening. The debate featured incumbent Rudy Durham against Winston Edmondson for mayor and incumbent Neil Ferguson against Ronnie Cade for place 2. Place 2 candidate Mary Smith had an emergency the day of the forum and could not attend. Mayoral candidate Penny Mallet had previously said the date would work for her, but also did not appear. Questions ranged from how to develop the retail sector of the city, projects on the 2025 plan, the overall role of the city and what needed to change and general background about the candidates. Throughout the debate, Durham and Ferguson explained what the city has done to grow during their tenure, but maintained several of the processes are complicated. An example of this occurred when Durham spoke about the city?s involvement in the retail sector, saying the market is changing and suggested it may be necessary for new, innovative laws. Cade also harkened back to her experience, where she served on council from 1994 to 1998, but maintained the city should make sure it?s not doing too much. Namely, the city should focus on fitting needs and work at a rate of development that will not mortgage the future. Edmondson proposed the most change throughout the night, suggesting the role of the mayor be more visible to the public and expand commissions and committees so residents can have more say. ?What can a mayor do to go above and beyond to be the face of the city?? Edmondson said. ?With a
M ayor al candidate Winston Edmondson gives his closing remar ks as incumbent mayor Rudy Dur ham, city council member Neil Fer guson and his challenger Ronni Cade prepare to do the same at the M arch 22 candidate for um at M usic City M all in L ewisville. (Photo by James Nor man)
little bit more effort ? we can take things a little bit further.? Transparency and mayoral involvement was a topic Edmondson hit on consistently throughout the debate, specifically saying the council and city should work to be more involved and open with the people. Ferguson pushed back on this idea, saying people have always been heard at meetings since he was in office and the information given out to citizens, specifically on the 2025 plan, is abundant. He also said the role of the government is to do things people can?t do alone. ?In a perfect city, there would be no government,? Ferguson said. ?Except there are some things people can?t do, like set up a water treatment plant or a library.? Where Edmondson said the city should be doing
more, the rest of the candidates focused on and expressed the difficulty they have faced trying to get residents more involved and informed on what is happening around them. Durham told a story of someone who once came to city council and complained about public involvement being so low. ?This person said, ?you make a whole lot of bad decisions and force people to come down here ? and they?ll get involved,?? Durham said. The 2025 plan was a key point of the discussion regarding how things get done in the city and whether or not the city is developing too quickly. Ferguson said the plan is the driving force for everything happening in the city and harped on how efficiently and quickly things are moving. Durham shared this sentiment but added the
plan was more a guideline than set-in-stone. Cade also tied this in with budget and expressed the city has been known to be one of the leanest operations in the area. Castle Hills was discussed as well, with all candidates agreeing and supporting the eventual annexation of the area, but listing specific challenges that may arise. Ferguson gave his history on this issue and his past pitches regarding how to deal with the potential cultural difference between the two areas. Cade disagreed with this assessment of the problem. With light of the Feb. 14 shooting in Parkland County, Florida and the continuing national conversation
surrounding gun violence, school safety and the role of the city was also discussed. Edmondson used it as an opportunity to say the city needed more police, adding we are over 40 officers short. This was a sentiment Durham agreed with, but said it would be difficult to fund that size of a police force, specifically to assist on campuses. Ferguson and Cade were on the same page about a limited, but effective role the city can have in assisting Lewisville ISD. The election for mayor and place 2 will be held on May 5, 2018.
L eft: M ayor Rudy Dur ham prepares for the 2018 candidate for um. Above: Lewisville Texan Journal publisher Steve Southwell moder ated the candidate for um at M usic City M all in L ewisville in late M arch before the M ay municipal elections.
Monday, December 31, 2018 ?
469-322-4265 ? LewisvilleTexan.org
Feature
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Dr iven from ancestr al home, Chin Continued fr om P1
a military junta, according to BBC. Between 1962 and 2011, when they ruled, this regime was notorious for suppressing dissent from the public and committed human rights abuses against those not in the ethnic or religious majority. Myanmar is a Buddhist majority nation. While constitutionally they allow religious freedom, there are exceptions that allow the suppression of minority religions. Missionaries came to the region roughly 100 years ago and converted the Chin from mostly Animism, a belief where all beings and objects have a spiritual essence, to Christianity. About 98 percent of them now practice Christianity according to Lewisville?s Chin Community Ministry. Ministry director Becky Nelson said while Buddhism is normally perceived as a peaceful religion, Myanmar is home to one of a few Buddhist groups that practices violence to advance their beliefs. This has been done through banning the practices of other religions and forced conversion and violence. ?The Chin are definitely a persecuted people group,? Nelson said. The persecution has come in the form of violent acts from the police and military, forced labor, unlawful detainment, torture and extrajudicial killings. They have also had their language banned, which has resulted in few books written in Chin and no recorded history. Another reason for leaving is an attempt to dodge the Burmese draft. It is common practice to lie about the age of your child so they cannot be drafted. But Nelson said according to the Chin, this isn?t the worst of it. The military has been known to come to Chin villages and take the men away, using them to build roads, carry ammunition for soldiers, sweep for mines and put them on the front lines without weapons of internal military conflict that has been ongoing since 1948. ?If you ask the Chin, they could have put up with lack of religious freedom,? Nelson said. ?They went underground and had underground churches. They were used to being poor, but what they couldn?t do is have their men be taken. They weren?t there to work the farms and then they?d come
The road out of M yanmar consists of a 1,500-mile j our ney called ?Ter ror Road.? (Cour tesy of Becky Nelson)
back maimed.?
Searching for a way out Leaving the country is made difficult for oppressed minority groups as well. Unable to go to India or Bangladesh due to lack of jobs and opportunity, Nelson detailed the path those fleeing must take, a 1,500-mile journey across Myanmar to Malaysia called Terror Road. Nelson said those fleeing have a chance of being caught and killed or thrown into a prison with harsh conditions. Those who make it find that their journey has just begun. Because Malaysia doesn?t want the population coming into the country, those who enter run the risk of being imprisoned until they can raise the money to bribe their captors. ?They?re illegal so they don?t have any human rights in Malaysia,? Nelson said. ?But if you can get to the U.N. office and can register as a refugee, then Malaysia is not as likely to imprison you.? The problem became worse when the Chin population was classified as a terrorist group by the U.S. after 9/11 because of their standing army, the Chin National Front. Nelson noted one of the key definitions of a terrorist group is having an army that goes against the current government. ?There were people who began to lobby for them because they knew the true thugs were not the Chin and was the military itself,? Nelson said.
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Nelson said after about two years, Congress no longer classified them as terrorists. This led to a sort of purge in Malaysia, where thousands of Chin had been dammed up and unable to resettle further due to the country?s laws. This led to a rapid population growth of Chin in Lewisville. Originally home to 70 asylees for a few years, this ballooned to 210 within three months, then 500. ?After that I lost track,? Nelson said. ?It was just like, everyday there were newcomers.?
A new home L ewisville
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Originally, Lewisville wasn?t a resettlement site. In the past, there were services allotted to these individuals, such as a cash stipend, Medicaid, food stamps and rent for the first couple months. Nelson said when she began in 2007, there was active resentment and pressure on the Chin from state and federal agencies involved in the settlement to leave the area and go back to where they had originally been resettled. This resulted in some services being cut off to the refugees. Nelson got involved when the Chin community wanted to have their own church in Lewisville rather than have to go to Dallas. Nelson?s church, First Baptist Church of Flower Mound, sponsored the church where the original 70 asylees attended for about four years. It was after this period they began to grow in
numbers. Nelson now estimates the population to range between 3,500 and 4,000 in Lewisville. Lewisville?s Community Relations and Tourism Director James Kunke said the Chin make up about 4 percent of Lewisville?s total population. Texas allowed almost 16,700 Burmese refugees between 2008 and 2014, almost 7,000 more than second-place New York, according to the Worldwide Refugee Admissions Processing System. Texas has historically resettled more refugees yearly than almost any other state. This is due to the large economy and opportunity to work that exists in the state. From 2000 to 2008, the numbers fluctuated between 2,000 to 6,000. In 2009 it spiked to more than 9,000. In 2014, that number reached almost 13,000 refugees.
Str uggling to adapt When they arrived, Nelson noted Denton County didn?t have a strong grasp on how to help or treat these refugees. She said she took it upon herself to learn what these people needed and educate the populus about it. She said over time she has tried to walk them through what they need to do to be successful, thriving residents of Lewisville and DFW. Schooling is the area Nelson said they are the weakest in. Many refugees have come over but were not educated the way Americans are, so they lack the basics to be put into a grade-level that fits their age. To further the problem, most families early
on would rather have their child drop out of school to help with work. Nelson said to combat this, they provide services such as books to help them catch up that teach various skills like addition and subtraction. They also offer a summer reading program. ?There?s no way to catch up,? Nelson said. ?You?re just immediately put into the school system and that?s what you have to do.? Kunke said due to lack of language and written material, the city?s library has had trouble finding Chin material, mostly because it doesn?t exist. Another area of struggle is the cultural differences that have arisen between the Chin and Americans. Nelson said early on, there wasn?t a lot of focus on helping the Chin, despite her believing there was need to inform teachers about the cultural differences and the issue of several not being able to read. ?Now that we?ve reached critical mass, we?re getting a lot of attention,? Nelson said laughing. ?We?re affecting statistics now.? This has led to more translation and acknowledgement in the need to give the group attention. Nelson said she believes the district is trying their best now. But the cultural difference affects both sides beyond just schooling. While some differences are small, such as the Chin wanting to eat berries off bushes they see or wanting to turn their front yard into a full-fledged garden, some are impactful. A significant difference is how Chin children show respect. The Chin are an authoritarian-structured family unit and do not center around their children. Nelson said children are not to speak unless they are spoken too. This can come in the form of looking away to show they are subordinate to an adult. This is different than American practices though, where children are supposed to look at their superior when being addressed. It also isn?t uncommon for parents to not be involved in their children?s extracurricular activities, such as attending sports league games. ?One person said to me that this mother wasn?t a good parent,? Nelson said. ?Well, she carried that child when he was 4-years-old on her back 1,500 miles while soldiers shot at her ?
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people find community in L ewisville they?re learning.? One area Nelson said is a problem is alcohol-use in the community, namely with the men. She said the problem originates in Myanmar and since they are not encouraged to share their feelings, they drown them. She said it may also stem from the inability to stop the Burmese military from raiding their village and taking everything. ?There?s no way to get back at the people you?re angry with,? she said. ?So I think they drink to stuff their feelings.?
means the person or family can function on some level. The last is thriving, which involves little to no help from the ministry and they can meet their needs themselves. Being a community-based group, the Chin also assist each other. Nelson said they have a practice where they gather money from those working and whoever is out of work, the money Ser vices from the raised goes to that person so they can ministr y and city still pay rent and The ministry has bills. This has led to provided services and helped the ministry needing with the bridging of the to give little cultures to make Lewisville assistance to rent. more inclusive to these Maybe the Chin kids per for med a song at L HS Ben Har mon 9th/10th gr ade center. (File photo - 2017 by Steve Southwell) refugees. According to a biggest hang-up that document shared by Nelson, be accepted by Americans, Lewisville has done for the program. In response, several occurs is the Chin?s distrust the ministry?s three goals are of but they are ashamed of their Chin, saying they?ve gone nonprofits have taken over government and to establish, equip and lack of English and above and beyond. One way the program to try and fill institutions. Having been engage. These involve persecuted and abused for education, so it is easier to they help is by providing a gaps left. assisting with legal issues decades, Nelson and Kunke not interact with an grant to the ministry, which ?I?m not sure how we?re and citizenship, giving American rather than be helps cover medical costs planning on staffing all that said the Chin aren?t eager to financial advice and helping shamed or just back down. and assistance for the when we don? t have refugees seek out help from those navigate the American Nelson gave an example of population. It is trying to anymore or people of certain providing it. system. She said she sees 25 Chin refusing to call police embrace the new culture, economic status to do it,? she ?When your home people a day on average. when they are having trouble with the school district said. country made you ?That?s one of the things unwelcomed and in some because they are scared. hosting events such as Chin Nelson said since we that makes us different,? she cases Perhaps the largest National Day. Nelson also will see a stoppage of actively worked said. ?We?re really after cultural difference is their said the city is trying to refugees coming in, the focus against you, it can be cross-cultural friendship. Not low-trust demeanors versus include them in art, dances is shifting to helping develop difficult to develop trust in just an agency ? our goal is any government,? Kunke American?s high-trust. and other cultural aspects. the ones who are here and to learn from them the same said. Americans move into first ?The city has gone far equipping them with the way we help them.? name recognition beyond what most people tools they need to thrive on To help this, Kunke said This help is broken down immediately upon meeting would do in order to try and their own with the main goal the city has internally formed into a grid of three tiers. each other. But for the Chin, incorporate them,? she said. to get citizenship. a task force designed to help Each tier breaks down the and As for the process of better serve it can take months and progress someone has made. several visits to become The end of refugees in integration, Nelson said it is underrepresented The first consists of learning accepted into the family. getting better, with more Amer ica populations. the basics, the second is Nelson spoke highly parents attending activities Nelson added onto this Despite the support from more in-depth but typically about what the city of and games and the children saying the refugees want to the community and city, thriving in the schools, Nelson said the future having graduated 35 Chin doesn?t look bright for more students last year. Parents are Chin refugees to come. She also attending graduation said this is due to President more often. Donald Trump?s ?I don?t see living in fear administration and the of other countries? people is shifting priorities, which has going to help us in the led to the shutting down of long-run,? Nelson said. ?So resettlement programs and why not just figure out a way increased funding to to say hello and introduce cracking down on yourself.? immigration rather than If you are interested in providing services. Nelson helping the Chin community, said this is because the Nelson recommends going to country is asking for the ministry more often when educated professionals to issues arise so the ministry migrate, which she believes can get involved and help could cause problems in teach the Chin how to better practice because most Chin adapt. She also asked people are not educated when they to volunteer at their schools come to the U.S. Yet, several and help with teaching the companies seek out Chin Chin students how to read people to help run their since their parents often warehouses and distribution can?t. centers. Visit the Lewisville Chin Texas has also gotten out Community Ministry website completely, dating back to to learn how to donate time September 2016 when they and money to help Chin withdrew from the U.S. Cour tesy of the Texas Depar tment of State Health Ser vices refugees. refugee resettlement Monday, December 31, 2018 ?
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Creekside water outage par t of a long-ter m patter n of water violations, documents show August 2, 2018 By L EOPOL D K NOPP
The Creekside water system that went out of service yesterday has a history of complaints and violations filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality going back several years, documents obtained by The Lewisville Texan Journal show. The Creekside Mobile Home Park in southern Lewisville operates a private water system, which is completely independent of City of Lewisville?s water utilities. The park charges residents for water and has a practical monopoly on water service within the park, since no other water service connects to their system. However, when a pipe burst and the water went out Tuesday afternoon, Creekside eventually asked the city for help, at which point the city turned to the Salvation Army. The charity, which typically serves people experiencing homelessness, came through to hand out free bottled water for park residents. ?It angers me that the management was requesting assistance from the city on bottled water ? when they are the ones profiting from residents,? one resident, who requested to remain anonymous, said. ?They should be out buying it.? The water is back on, but residents are being asked to boil it for safety before use. They are reporting that the water is cloudy out of the faucet. Residents say they are frequently required to boil their water after outages, loss of water pressure or other potential contamination of the system, incidents which they say range in frequency from once monthly to once weekly, and sometimes even more often at points. When the water is on, they say it is often cloudy or smells of chlorine. Creekside management would not answer, or even hear, questions about its water system, instead simply telling The Lewisville Texan Journal that the reporter?s contact information had been passed along to the regional manager. Creekside management refused to give contact information for this regional manager. In two years of covering the Creekside water system, The Lewisville Texan Journal has frequently been referred to higher-level managers in
parent company RHP Properties, but has almost never been in contact with them. Even when RHP personnel do respond, it is only to decline comment.
Water outages In recent years, residents have had several complaints about the Creekside water system. These complaints have resulted in our previous coverage of the mobile home park or investigations when complaints went directly to the TCEQ, but they are not comprehensive. One such investigation was in February, when after a handful of complaints about low water pressure and boil water notices, TCEQ investigators discovered there wasn?t enough chlorine in the water supply. Chlorine is used to disinfect drinking water, and water suppliers are required to maintain a certain concentration of it in their supply to prevent contamination. The summary for that investigation mentioned several previous complaints and investigations about the system dating back years. The Lewisville Texan Journal filed an open records request for all these complaints and investigations. The full resulting documents can be found here. The documents detail several investigations, each of which found multiple violations, recorded by the TCEQ dating back to 2013. Many violations repeat over the years. While two of the investigations were comprehensive compliance investigations that take place every three years, others were spurred by complaints from residents. One of the repeated violations include meeting well capacity requirements. The comprehensive compliance investigation in 2013 found that the well was only pumping 88.9 percent of the gallons per minute required of a well with 553 connections. The comprehensive investigation in 2016 also found capacity issues ? it notes that the system was at 86.5 percent of its required storage capacity and 97 percent of its required storage pump capacity. The most consistent violations recently have been failures to properly handle boil water notices, either because operators failed to notify the TCEQ or because they used incorrect forms to notify residents. Boil water
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notices are fliers sent out to inform residents that they must boil all their water before use because it isn?t safe straight from the tap. Even with several TCEQ violations noted per year, residents paint a much worse picture of living at Creekside. They say that the water is off frequently, and that the management often doesn?t issue boil water notices at all unless under threat, instead preferring to The boil water notice outside of the Creekside M obile Homes Office in L ewisville. leave a public sign at Residents say this sign is often used instead of the required notices. (Photo by the front of the park L eopold K nopp) ? one residents say At least one resident is agency, but enforcing this could easily be missed, facing what they describe as would require going to court. especially if they stay at retaliation for complaining home. L ewisville?s options about this most recent outage. The resident said The city has been TCEQ enforcement they had received a letter a looking into ways it can help The water system went week ago requesting they Creekside residents since at through Texas Commission replace the air conditioning least February, but options on Environmental Quality unit and to add skirting on are limited. Creekside is enforcement procedures one side of the mobile home. licensed by the state as an earlier this year after an A week later, Aug. 2, one independent water system, investigation in February day after publicly expressing and the city has no found that there wasn?t frustration with the water jurisdiction over the utility. enough chlorine in its water system related to this outage Creekside has a legal supply. For this violation, on Facebook, they received a monopoly on the water TCEQ eventually fined letter from management utilities services in its park Creekside a total of $431, stating they had until the through a Certificate of with $86 deferred. next day, Aug. 3 to replace a Convenience and Necessity, That fine is less than a broken window and an air a state-issued permit that single resident?s monthly conditioning unit and make allows for private utilities rent at Creekside. significant repairs to the services in locations where TCEQ media relations skirting and deck. local governments can?t or specialist Brian McGovern ?They know I can?t don?t serve the need. The said the TCEQ?s goal when afford a lawyer, which is Creekside system is adjacent they find violations is to why they do this,? the to both Lewisville?s and bring water systems back resident said. ?The reason Flower Mound?s water into compliance, not to the person yesterday wanted services. punish them. This is to remain anonymous is After being asked to reflected in the investigation because they retaliate. bring water to Creekside documents ? every Because they absolutely 100 residents when it went out violation that is listed is percent do.? Aug. 1, Lewisville doesn?t paired with a date to come The resident said the really know what the plan is back into compliance by, manager explicitly referred in case of a water emergency which is often more than a to the resident?s Facebook at the mobile home park. month out. McGovern said post ?bad-mouthing? the Community relations and that if the system fixes the park, and dared the resident tourism director James problem by the set date, to get a lawyer. The resident Kunke said the city has plans they?re considered to be in said the manager told them in case a fire breaks out, but compliance and face no to either comply or ?move isn?t set up to provide water enforcement measures. my house and get the fuck to the private utility?s area, The chlorine violation, out.? even in case of emergency. which posed an immediate Some have said they ?The city reached out to health risk, had needed to be worry that management will Salvation Army for fixed within 24 hours of find reasons to fine them or immediate response discovery, and it was not, they will suddenly be asked yesterday because those are resulting in enforcement to make expensive repairs, as Lewisville residents and their proceedings. But those the resident above was. welfare is important to us, proceedings resulted in a fine Others are worried they?ll be but there is no mechanism in of just $431. evicted outright, and say that place for the city to back up they can?t afford to find Creekside?s independent Scared residents another home. water supply,? he said. ?We The Lewisville Texan The Texas Young would be interested in Journal spoke to several Lawyers? Association meeting with the residents while researching Tenant?s Rights Handbook owner/operator of the water this and other stories about states that it is illegal to evict system to discuss ways they Creekside, and they have tenants, raise their rent or could improve the reliability almost uniformly requested decrease their services within of their system.? to remain anonymous, six months of making several fearing retaliation from different complaints, management. including to a non-profit Please share, reuse or recycle after reading
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New water oper ator takes over at Creekside, sever al improvements made to water system December 12, 2018 By L EOPOL D K NOPP
Residents of the Creekside Mobile Home Park in southern Lewisville have suffered frequent water outages for several years now. However, city sources and a new water operator are reporting that they have been working with the park to install several improvements in the system. The mobile home park operates a private water system, which is completely independent of City of Lewisville?s water utilities. The park charges residents for water and has a practical monopoly on water service within the park, since no other water service connects to their system. Residents have experienced interruptions in their water service, with varying degrees of frequency and severity, for several years. Sometimes they?ll go months without an incident, sometimes there will be multiple problems a week. Sometimes the water will go completely out, others it will simply lose pressure, but in all cases, residents are required to boil their water to clear it of potential contaminants after a service interruption for periods that can last as long as multiple days. One of the most consistent complaints against the park is of a failure to properly notify residents of the need to boil their water. Of the several residents who have spoken with The Lewisville Texan Journal, almost all of them have asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from Creekside management. We have heard several stories of management enforcing the rules extremely strictly on residents who they suspect have spoken to the media, such as demanding that expensive or long-term repairs be done within a few days or work-intensive projects from older residents, often for violations that are let slide on other units. When asked why they don?t just leave, residents are again almost uniform in their answer ? most can?t afford to. The Lewisville Texan Journal has covered these outages and apparent water code violations extensively, but to our knowledge, the issue hasn?t received attention from other media outlets, and may not once the paper ceases regular operations this week. Lewisville city officials have expressed anger about the situation in Creekside multiple times, and now, they are reporting that significant repairs have been made at the city?s encouragement. Community relations and tourism director James Kunke said the city has been working to improve the situation at Creekside, and has made significant progress. ?The families who live in Creekside Mobile Home Park are Lewisville residents and we care about their health, safety, and quality of life. That includes having access to clean, safe drinking water,? he said. ?We have been working with the management at Creekside and
trying to help them find long-term solutions to the water system issues they?ve experienced. City staff identified a list of steps that could be taken to address the problem, and Creekside management has been working on those items. That working relationship has led to improvements already, and we are optimistic that the progress we?ve seen will continue.? Assistant city manager Claire Powell said the city has held quarterly meetings with Creekside, with representatives ranging from the health and code enforcement department to the fire department. Powell said the park installed a supervisory control and data acquisition system, which is an automated system to keep track of the water supply. Such a system is required by the state for many public services. Powell said the park has also performed repairs on one onsite water pump and budgeted for isolation valves to be installed in the water system over the next few years. Joel Brown, president of Creekside?s parent company RHP properties, said these isolation valves will allow the mobile home park to seal off any breaks in the water lines and prevent the need for a community-wide boil water advisory. The changes at Creekside include a new system operator in Patterson Professional Services, who installed most of the improvements. President and owner Mark Patterson, who said he?d been working on the Creekside system for two or three months, said the system?s problems were a simple matter of it being an old water system that hadn?t been maintained properly. ?The system itself is probably a 1970s or ?80s installed system, so just like a car, they wear out, so there are some challenges with older systems like that,? he said. ?But nothing if you stay up on top of can?t be overcome. Really what they were suffering from was operator error.? Patterson said when they first took over the system, they saw evidence of negligence, including a brand new booster pump that looked like it had been sitting and waiting to be installed for about a year. He said attention to detail would solve most of the system?s problems. Patterson encouraged residents to contact him with any problems on his cell phone, 903-744-2599.
TCEQ enforcement Throughout our coverage of Creekside, we?ve often wondered why the TCEQ didn?t step in and simply revoke Creekside?s ability to operate the water system. In conversations with TCEQ media relations specialist Brian McGovern, it seems that the commission?s enforcement system is set up to bring systems back into compliance, not to tear them down. McGovern said that when the commission finds a violation of its water codes, it sets a date by which the system needs to come back into Monday, December 31, 2018 ?
compliance. If the violation is fixed a few months, it looks like $431 is as by that date, there?s no further action. serious a consequence as it will face If the problem is not solved by from the TCEQ. the appointed date, the TCEQ goes Moving forward with water into its enforcement process. pressure sensors Creekside experienced such a process The Lewisville Texan Journal is in February when TCEQ nearly ready to release a investigators discovered there wasn?t community-funded public service enough chlorine, which is used as a aimed at keeping tabs on residential disinfectant, in the water supply. water service in areas that experience When Creekside wasn?t able to frequent outages. bring the chlorine levels up in time, it The service will consist of felt the TCEQ?s wrath to the tune of several monitoring devices placed in $431, with $86 of that deferred. That the homes of volunteers who live in fine is less than a single resident?s affected areas. The devices will be monthly rent at the park. connected to residential water lines While Creekside was fined in and detect pressure changes. They this case, based on a comprehensive report water pressure periodically to list of complaints and investigations an online system that can then involving the utility dating back display water service status, pressure, several years, most of the time the and uptime. utility gets back into compliance by The system is mobile-friendly the TCEQ?s appointed date, and is and will be capable of sending email then considered to be in compliance. and text message alerts when it The utility faces no consequences in detects a water outage or restoration these cases. of service. McGovern said state law allows Thanks to funding from the the TCEQ to intervene in the community for development of the operation of a water utility under device and hosting for its website, exactly two circumstances ? when the service will not cost anything to the utility has been abandoned by its users. operators or when the TCEQ asks the Attorney General to sue to appoint a different head of the utility. Even in the second circumstance, state law only allows for the appointment of a receiver if the utility has been abandoned or has violated a final enforcement order by the TCEQ. Another consistent violation was failing to have a licensed water Ter r y Hayes and his group pass out water to residents operator ? all Texas outside the Creekside M obile Home Par k in souther n utilities are required to L ewisville. (Photo by L eopold K nopp) have a licensed operator attached, a role now filled LTJ Publisher Steve Southwell, a by Patterson. computer programmer and McGovern said that even if it had electronics hobbyist, led the appeared the system had been development and programming for abandoned, the TCEQ was hesitant to the device, with help from expert invoke its power. volunteers. Southwell is personally ?Although one may consider the committed to finishing this device factors of abandonment to have been even after the paper ceases regular met in any number of situations, activity. because the appointment of a The system is intended to keep a temporary manager or receiver solid record of how reliable the water involves taking someone?s business system is, providing a record of away, the TCEQ is very careful in its failures and sending notifications consideration of which systems to directly to residents in case of a loss refer for temporary management or of pressure. Data about water service receivership,? McGovern said. status could also be of use to ?Typically, the TCEQ gives systems firefighters, who may need to arrange the chance to remedy issues through alternate water sources when the normal enforcement process, hydrants are down. which may take time. Accordingly, The device is undergoing final the TCEQ will usually only refer tweaks for reliability and battery life these cases in situations in which the before being rolled out within the enforcement process has been next few weeks. completely unsuccessful in resolving LTJ is now seeking a limited outstanding issues or in situations in number of volunteers willing to host which the system has been the devices in their homes. completely abandoned by the owner Volunteers must have Creekside and operator.? water service and a stable WiFi As long as Creekside continues internet connection that the device to operate the utility, and as long as it can connect to. If you are interested, continues to resolve violations by contact Southwell at TCEQ deadlines, whether or not steve@lewisvilletexan.org. those same violations pop up again in
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Elections
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DFW-based PAC funded par tisan flier s in June r unoff, Car rollton councilper son may be involved
The front and back of the flier s sent out by the Nor th Texas PAC for Tr ust, Honesty and I ntegr ity. (Flier from Nor th Texas PAC for Tr ust, Honesty and I ntegr ity)
July 11, 2018 By L EOPOL D K NOPP Knopp@LewisvilleTexan.com
A Carrollton City Council member may be involved with the partisan fliers that were sent out concerning Neil Ferguson and Ronni Cade in the late stages of their runoff election last month. The morning of June 15, Lewisville voters found fliers in their mailboxes related to the runoff election between Ferguson and Cade for the Place 2 City Council seat. The fliers painted a highly partisan picture of the two candidates, singling Ferguson out as a Democrat with a liberal agenda and ascribing to him several views that he has never expressed, and contrasted Cade as a conservative. Local municipal elections are non-partisan. Despite the fliers? support for her, Cade was furious when she saw them. She said she was completely blindsided. ?I screamed. ?I said, ?I hope this doesn?t cost me an election,?? she said. ?I would publicly apologize to Neil, but I didn?t do it.? Cade took public backlash for the fliers online, but her poll performance went up after the fliers came out. Ferguson would go on to defeat Cade, winning his third full city council term, but very narrow margin. He led her by 338 votes in the May 5 general election, but a third candidate Mary Smith siphoned off enough votes from the two of them that it was only good for 47.63 percent of the total vote, necessitating a runoff. But in that runoff, Ferguson only led Cade by 46 votes, and
actually earned fewer than she did on election day itself ? the day after these fliers came out. Barely visible on the flier, hidden in the shadow of a picture of Cade, is the funding disclosure ? Paid for by the North Texas PAC for Trust, Honesty and Integrity. The PAC?s website says its mission is to recruit, train, promote and financially support candidates across every available platform, and lists Lewisville school and city elections as two of a handful of ?targets.? It states, ?we must combat the left by winning every local down ballot election.? The PAC has raised $14,047.37 and spent $13,017.51 this year as of July 11, according to the Texas Ethics Commission website. The PAC website lists two of its principals as treasurer Tom Washington and Carrollton City Council member Mike Hennefer. The PAC?s mailing address is Hennefer?s business office in Dallas. Hennefer was elected to the council in 2017, and had previously run for the Texas District 65 Representative seat, losing in the primary to Ron Simmons in 2012. Simmons would win the general race and is up for re-election this year. Hennefer declined comment for this story. The PAC website quotes Hennefer in saying, ?The opposition is ugly. They are using fear and falsehoods.? Several of the claims on the PAC?s Lewisville fliers are either unconfirmed or misleading. The fliers say Ferguson supports sanctuary cities, restricting Second Amendment rights, open
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borders, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lupe Valdez, House of Representatives minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D- San Francisco) and U.S. Senator
fully cooperate with national efforts to enforce immigration law, has not been a topic of conversation in Lewisville. Cade said she?d never
The funding disclosure is barely visible next to a picture of Cade. (Enlar gement of flier from Nor th Texas PAC for Tr ust, Honesty and I ntegr ity)
Chuck Schumer (D- New York) ? views he has never publicly expressed. For Cade?s part, the flier says she will enforce the law on sanctuary cities, evoking an ongoing national debate on immigration policies, with ?law? underlined for emphasis. The possibility of becoming a sanctuary city, or a municipality that does not
heard of the PAC, Washington or Hennefer, and was shocked to learn he was a councilman in Carrollton. However, she said she?d been told that local Democratic groups had endorsed Ferguson, and that Democrats have nationally decided to get more involved in local campaigns. Cade said she was told that was the
impetus for the North Texas PAC sending out its fliers. Cade referred specifically to the United Democrats of Denton County, whose Facebook page posted an endorsement of Ferguson May 2, along with nine other candidates in unrelated races. The page has 84 likes, and the specific post has no interactions. Cade and Ferguson were both publicly committed to running a clean campaign, and had expressed respect for each other in the past. Cade had previously served on Lewisville?s City Council in the ?90s, and said she was frustrated with the growing national split between liberal and conservative Americans. She said party politics had no place in local elections. ?The municipal and the school board elections are non-partisan, and there?s a reason for that,? she said. ?You can do your national platforms and stuff like that on a state level, county level, whatever, but when you?re talking about a city council level and a school board level, we?re there to represent everybody.? Ferguson agreed, saying that party politics has no place on council whatsoever. ?When you can convince me there are potholes with a ?D?and others with an ?R?on them, and we need to figure out which ones should be funded for repair and which should not, I will know it is the end of sanity and rational government at City Hall,? Ferguson said. ?It will also be the end of progress accomplished through teamwork. Keep the national talking point out of local government, and we will all be the better for it.?
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New Flower M ound Cares Facebook admin requests pay-for-play from local news or gs M arch 5, 2018 By L EOPOL D K NOPP
EDI TOR'S NOTE: Since this story was published in March, Itamar Gelbman has become an administrator on the Flower Mound Cares page. Or iginal stor y: Administration duties for the Flower Mound Cares Facebook group, a 15,000-member public forum for Flower Mound residents, recently changed hands. The new administrator has restricted what news sources are allowed to be published on the page, and has asked at least two papers, including The Lewisville Texan Journal, for money in exchange for the ability to post. Monday Feb. 19, Cross Timbers Gazette owner Max Miller realized that he no longer had commenting privileges on the page and asked new Flower Mound Cares administrator Terri Shawn why. Shawn told him
that it was because they were working on an exclusive deal with ?an FM magazine? and they asked her to keep the page news-free for a few weeks. A few hours later, Shawn unmuted Miller on the condition that he would not post any articles from the Cross Timbers Gazette. Several hours after that, she made a further offer ? she requested that Miller take down letters to the editor from Joe Roach and Dianne Edmondson that are critical of former town council member Itamar Gelbman, who is running for Denton County Commissioner Precinct 4 in the Republican primary election. She said that if Miller took the letters down, she would allow him to outbid the magazine to be the exclusive news provider for Flower Mound Cares. Miller declined to delete the letters to the editor, saying that he would not silence opinions because he does not agree with them.
Gelbman has had several letters to the editor of his own published in the past and even responded to one of the letters in question. Gelbman was a controversial figure during his time on Flower Mound Town Council. He was found in an outside investigation to have potentially used his position for financial gain in late 2015. Gelbman consistently antagonized the rest of the council and other public figures, threatened to ?bankrupt this [expletive] town? if the investigator?s report was released. A link to Gelbman?s campaign Facebook page is currently pinned to the top of the Flower Mound Cares page. When asked what would happen if the page she contracts with posts something critical of Gelbman, Shawn said that they wouldn?t, and that The Cross Timbers Gazette is the only news organization that scrutinizes him, which is not true.
When The Lewisville Texan Journal asked Shawn if she was selling exclusive access for news media, she said that she did not have a deal in place, but that she would entertain an offer. She said that she wants the Flower Mound Cares group to be free from personal attacks and fake news. When asked how she would both offer exclusive access to a news organization and also restrict them from posting stories she found malicious, she did not answer. The Lewisville Texan Journal reached out to another magazine that may have been the one Shawn told Miller she was negotiating with. The editors said they were not working with Shawn, but they had text messages that indicate the former page administrator, Eric Jellison, had a similar exclusivity deal in place with Miller and the Cross Timbers Gazette. Miller adamantly denies having a deal in place, and
said that Jellison may have been acting out of loyalty. Jellison has not returned multiple calls for interview from The Lewisville Texan Journal. Chris Roark with The Leader said that no one had approached him about paying for access to the Facebook group, but he said he had not posted recently. The Lewisville Texan Journal will never pay for access to an online forum, nor participate in any arrangement that blocks out competitors. It is our belief that removing content as part of an exchange, as Shawn requested of Miller, or becoming financially entangled in a group that may be promoting a particular politician, compromises our editorial authority and our ability to act independently as journalists.
Par tisan political or ganization takes swipes at L ewisville Febr uar y 21, 2018 By L EOPOL D K NOPP
Conservative state-level political action committee Empower Texans has taken a handful of swipes at Lewisville over the past months, highlighted by two stories about Mayor Rudy Durham and a letter suggesting that Lewisville ISD board president Angie Cox is breaking the law. While most of what?s been published is technically true, much of it is misleading. The first thing to understand is that even though it is presented as a grassroots organization, Empower Texans is funded by a small handful of people. According to Feb. 5 filings from the Texas Ethics Commission, $953,000 of its contributions during that period ? the overwhelming majority of its $954,815 in total contributions ? came from just three people. Local politicians tend not to appreciate it. ?Empower Texans is a carpetbagger with a mailing list and a PO box,? Lewisville City Council member TJ Gilmore said. ?They stand for a radical and destructive set of policies that undermine government closest to the people with the money of eight millionaires.?
This money includes $150,000 from Tim Dunn, the Midland, Texas natural gas billionaire who enlisted Michael Quinn Sullivan, who has an address in Lewisville, to launch Empower Texans in 2006. According to Texas Tribune data, Dunn has spent thousands on the PAC in every two-year period since, peaking with donations of $2.5 million during the 2013-14 period. Sullivan is the president and CEO of Empower Texans, and has been since it formed. After interviewing with Metroplex bureau chief Ross Kecseg, The Lewisville Texan Journal sent multiple emails to him and communications director Morgan Williamson in an attempt to get in touch with Sullivan, but received no further response. Empower Texans made national headlines in the past weeks when it sent letters en masse to Texas teachers asking them to ?blow the whistle? on their school districts for allegedly using school resources to support liberal candidates in upcoming elections. This was met by a wave of pushback from teachers. LISD?s own Ramona Lowe called the letter ?profoundly irritating.?
?The letter was written with dog whistle words and outright accuses school districts of wasting money and breaking the law by encouraging people to vote,? she said. ?I?ve taught in four districts in two states during my career and have never been told how to vote. The idea that supporting and funding public education is somehow a ?liberal? plot is just another way to deflect the blame from where it belongs.? This effort backfired when teachers across the state took to Twitter with the ?Blowing the whistle? hashtag, tagging Empower Texans and outlining something exceptional a colleague had done. Soon after this letter was sent out, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton sent a cease-and-desist letter to three ISDs, including Lewisville, legally making the same allegations ? that LISD is using taxpayer money to support specific political candidates. The ISD has been openly defiant of the Texas legislature on several issues. Cox said that the district had not endorsed any candidate or specific legislation and that it would continue to promote voting in its district.
Monday, December 31, 2018 ?
This was followed by a letter from Empower Texans that some voters received last night, Feb. 20, written by Sullivan with a subject line reading, ?Is school board president Angie Cox breaking the law?? The letter says in salacious, partisan language that LISD is actively encouraging Democrats to vote in the Republican primary, which is not true. The Lewisville Texan Journal will have more on this aspect of the story as it develops. Cox responded the morning of the 22nd via a Facebook post. She was critical of the PAC?s choice to use its money this way. ?Those letters were distributed across the State of Texas with modifications only to the board president and school district name,? she said. ?I can?t imagine the cost of that mailer, but what a shame they are using their vast resources sending slanderous mailers devoid of truth instead of seeking ways to do good.? The PAC?s website, in which it is described as a non-profit service organization, has also recently posted articles about the Denton County Transportation Authority and
469-322-4265 ? LewisvilleTexan.org
Lewisville mayor Rudy Durham. The articles criticize Durham for serving both as mayor and Denton County?s chief appraiser, citing it as a conflict of interest. The articles do not accuse Durham of any wrongdoing, and neither did Kecseg, though he said the potential existed for Durham to increase the appraisal value of Lewisville properties and then benefit as mayor from the increased revenue without actually raising taxes. ?The taxing entities have an interest in the appraisal values going up,? he said. ?That?s what the taxing entities like to have happen, though I can?t speak for him personally.? One of Kecseg?s articles describes State Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), vice chair of the intergovernmental relations committee, singling Durham out for this conflict and saying he would seek to make holding both positions illegal next session. Bettencourt?s communications director, Robert Flanagan, said that while this is in the works, Bettencourt doesn?t see it as a major priority.
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Political or ganizations condemn new state rep., witnesses allege patter n of troubling comments Continued fr om P1
(YDDC) posted an official statement on their Facebook denouncing ?the horrendous statements and actions? of Beckley. The Young Republican and Libertarian organizations soon followed suit. During the 2018 midterms at the Carrollton Public Library at Hebron and Josey, a polling station, County Commissioner Precinct 2 candidate Brandy Jones, who is black, said she heard Beckley make a comment to the effect of ?they need to bring lynching back.? Note: Beckley specifically denied this after our story was initially published. See the note at bottom. Jones said Beckley was having an argument with another person of color at the polling station. While Jones didn?t hear what the argument was about, she walked up to the situation near the end of the argument, when Beckley was already heated, and heard her say to herself that lynching should comeback. Beckley only then realized Jones was within earshot. ?When she said it, she caught herself like, ?oh my gosh she heard me,?? Jones said. ?She tried to offer me some Oreos.? Another source, who requested to remain anonymous due to threats against them, said Beckley said something similar to her during the 2017 mayoral election. Jones also said during primary election season, Democratic candidates and volunteers went block-walking together to pass out candidate pamphlets, but noticed Beckley did not pass out Jones?literature. ?She would want me to pass out her literature, but she wouldn?t want to pass out mine,? Jones said. Jones and other sources stated Beckley also did not pass out literature for certain other Democratic candidates, specifically Chris Lopez, a Hispanic man who was recently elected as Denton County?s Precinct 6 Justice of the Peace, and Diana Leggett, a white woman who was running for County Judge. Jones heard Beckley make a comment under her breath as to why she wouldn?t pass them out. ?One of the comments she would make was something to the effect of ?I have to tolerate black
women,?? Jones said. Cadena said she heard an allegation that Beckley was trying to remove Lopez?s access to the Voter Action Network, the DCDP?s database on registered voters in the county. Cadena said she acted to make sure it didn?t happen. Some of Beckley?s other statements also raised questions. At a YDDC general assembly in June, Beckley said to the audience the only Spanish she knew was ?tacos and burritos.? There is video of this meeting, but it begins recording after this remark was made. However, several YDDC and DCDP members who attended the event confirmed this comment. At a candidate forum in February earlier this year at Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church in Carrollton, Beckley used the term ?sexual preference? more than once, leading some in the audience to speculate that she believes being gay is a choice. The sentiment was repeated by several sources. Beckley was asked for clarification in the middle of the forum, as seen in a video of the event. ?Language of sexual preference seems to indicate that one might think that sexuality is a choice,? the moderator said. ?Where do you stand on that?? ?I don?t think it?s a choice. That was probably a misstatement I made,? Beckley said at the forum. ?The manager of my store has been there for 25 years is ? he?s gay and I?ve had lots of conversations with him because as a heterosexual maybe I don?t understand. I think that talking to people is how you learn about them and their preferences and just how they are. Everybody brings something different to the table and I think that?s what we need. Sometimes I think we get tied up on the definitions of things and just accept people for who they are.? Beckley issued a blanket denial in a prepared statement released by her spokesperson Jana Sanchez. ?These allegations are completely without merit and launched by people who openly supported my Republican opponent,? Beckley?s statement reads. ?I will remain focused on the things that are of the greatest importance to the people of District 65: healthcare and education.?* While details are still emerging, it is clear that
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reports of poor behavior on Beckley?s part date back to her 2017 Carrollton mayoral campaign and the beginning of her involvement with the Denton County Democratic Party (DCDP). As to the question of why nothing was done, several sources echoed the same sentiment ? they were discouraged from speaking up because doing so might hurt the campaigns of other Denton County Democrats. When asked how Beckley would be held accountable, Cadena?s response was, ?how?? ?What do you expect me to do?? Cadena said. ?She?s going to be held to the same standard as the rest of the candidates. I can?t de-elect her. I can?t get her off the ballot. Really, truthfully, there is nothing we can do.? However, after reading the Denton Record Chronicle?s article on the situation, Cadena clarified that the party did pull resources once accusations of racism emerged. ?The perception is that we, Denton County Democratic Party (DCDP), knew about this issue for over a year and still asked our volunteers to help Ms. Beckley with her campaign,? Cadena wrote in an email. ?To clarify, we knew that Ms.Beckley had a strong personality and was sometimes difficult to work with or for; we had complaints from many people on that account. It was not until after the start of early voting that we started to hear the assertions of racism? With that information, I asked staff to stop asking our volunteers that did not want to work with Ms.Beckley, especially those who stepped up with their complaints of racism, to work for her campaign.? When Cadena was made aware of the accusations, she said she was asked by two campaigns in Denton County to not bring those accusations to light publicly. ?It wasn?t my decision to not make it public. I?m still respecting their requests,? Cadena said.?The people who were complaining ? it was going to impact their lives. It impacts the candidates.? Cadena said she spent a day in Carrollton during early voting to address the situation. ?It?s not that there wasn?t any action, it?s just that I?m not going to post that anywhere,? Cadena said. ?I talked to all the parties
involved ? Beckley and whoever else was out there. I did what I had to do. It was more than mediation because there [were] specific actions that we had to take, and we did.? Cadena would not specify what actions had been taken. Jones said she has been witnessing Beckley?s behavior since the primary election season. ?They just have really tried to cover it up like it wasn?t important,? Jones said. ?It has not been resolved. That has been the biggest issue.? Jones said one way the issue could have been fixed months ago is if Beckley had sincerely apologized. ?Even if you don?t like me because of my skin color, you still are supposed to respect people and accept them,? Jones said. ?You can?t be a role model or a leader doing things like that to people.? Former party chair Phyllis Wolper said that Beckley is an aggressive, intimidating person, but that she was ?equal-opportunity? with her aggression. Wolper said she received numerous complaints about Beckley?s conduct before Cadena took over as party chair in June, but that the conduct was not racially charged. ?There were absolutely no complaints about Beckley that had any racist overtones spoken of her,? Wolper said. ?Beckley has an extremely strong personality, and she tends to exhibit that a lot. She is very tenacious about things, and I can say without a doubt, because she was against me being re-elected, that she is very, let?s say, colorblind, when it comes to her tenacity.? Wolper said that Beckley zealously supported Cadena, who is a Latina, over her in their race for county chair in March. She said Beckley would show up at meetings that were not in District 65 and interrupt Wolper as she spoke. Wolper said she never heard anything regarding a comment about lynching. She said she would have done something if she had heard any suggestion of racism on Beckley?s part, but never found any indication that Beckley picked on a particular group. ?I can say, in some people?s position, and within certain people of color, I could see how this could easily be interpreted, this behavior, but they?re not the
only ones,? Wolper said. Cadena said a focus of hers has always been purposeful inclusion, or to diversify the leadership of DCDP. She said purposeful inclusion helped this situation come to light. ?Purposeful inclusion was made to get around these kinds of issues,? Cadena said. ?I think it came up because people feel free to say something? because they know we?re going to listen.? Cadena also said there will be more intense efforts for ally training that candidates will be strongly encouraged to attend. ?I think everybody involved needs to have some kind of ally training on all the different, marginalized groups,? Cadena said. ?I want to make sure our candidates know what we expect from them and set that bar. It was always in the works but I think we?re going to have to speed it up and make sure that it is our priority.? Beckley will take office when the 86th Texas Legislature begins on Jan. 8, 2019. She narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Ron Simmons with 51.16 percent of the vote. District 65 represents Eastern Lewisville, Castle Hills and North Carrollton. * Update 12:21 p.m.: Beckley?s spokesperson, Jana Sanchez said they had been unaware that the allegations included the statements about lynching. She provided this statement from Michelle Beckley: ?This is an absolute lie. I have never uttered those words in any circumstance. Ever. We have been harassed for two years by this group and if they had ever presented this claim, we would have refuted it aggressively, including through legal channels. It is outrageous that she is able to attack my character only because I am an elected official. My team and I have been asking for any evidence that I had ever said anything racist or discriminatory and were never once given any concrete example. I categorically deny I ever said such a thing. The only racially insensitive thing I have ever been heard saying was a self-deprecating comment about my Spanish language ability,? ? Representative Elect Michelle Beckley.
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Education
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L I SD was closely watching legal boundar ies with voting advocacy, documents show Continued fr om P1
?The district concludes its message by stating that its purpose is to ?send a strong message to Austin? by electing certain candidates,? the letter reads. ?In short, Lewisville ISD promulgated a campaign to ensure the election of certain candidates to the Texas Legislature.? The tweet was removed, but the district has stood by its video. That same day, Doty also sent a public information request to LISD, asking for any written communications sent from an officer or employee of the district containing the words ?Texas legislature? or ?primary.? The request was later clarified to include any emails within the six months prior to the request. Public information requests to a government entity legally require a response within 10 days. LISD asked for additional time to comply with Doty?s request, given its scope. Responsive records were eventually sent to the Attorney General?s office in July. The Lewisville Texan Journal subsequently requested the package of responsive records. District paralegal Ingrid Gunter said LISD charged the Attorney General?s office more than $1,700 for the amount of time it took to gather this information, but because the information was already gathered when we requested it, it was made available to us for free. You can read through the 1,522 pages of responsive emails here. The documents contain 44 mentions of ?Texas Legislature? and 178 mentions of the word ?primary,? the majority of which are either repeated or inconsequential. ?Texas Legislature? is mentioned several times as a citation in emails explaining where and when certain laws come from. The word ?primary? is used several times in emails organizing use of The Colony High School as a site for the Democratic Primary runoff and a few requests for campaign donations from the Beto O?Rourke and Greg Abbott campaigns to individuals at their school district address. It is also used several times as an adjective, not in reference to any election. The key words are each used several times in the transcripts and earlier
versions of the script for the ?teacher voice? video, which repeat a couple of times within the emails. Early scripts for the video, contained in emails from last November, show that Rogers initially would have encouraged staff and citizens to vote in the Republican
general election. So we must be active in the Republican Primary if we hope to impact the landscape of Texas politics.? In the video itself and the post-video transcript, all mention of the Republican Primary has been removed from this passage, and it is a
primary. ?I want to challenge you to unite behind a common cause this spring ? ensuring pro-education legislators come out of the Republican Primaries and move on to the general election in November,? the initial script reads. ?Why is the
call to be involved in both the Democratic and Republican Primary elections. This part of the video starts around the 1:45 mark. The responsive documents also contain emails from chief schools officer Joseph Coburn asking
party primary to vote in. This fact has been used by citizens who identify with both Republican and Democratic parties tactically to interfere with the other?s primary in the past, but the effect is generally not dramatic. The emails also contain drafts of an advocacy Powerpoint that seems to be aimed at district employees expressly stating what can and cannot be said on company time. The presentation says it?s OK to talk about the facts and support public education in general, with ?in general? emphasized, but that it isn?t OK to advocate for specific policies or candidates using LISD time or resources. As examples, the presentation highlighted apparently anti-public education actions or quotes from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, State Sen. Don Huffines and State Sen. Louis Kolkhurst as facts, and gave statements like, ?Educating the 90 percent plus of Texas children who are in public schools should be a much higher priority than what bathrooms people use? as a general, pro-public education statement. The same slide explicitly
A key slide of the advocacy Power point, rough dr afts of which were found in distr ict emails that were requested by the state Attor ney Gener al?s office.
Republican Primary important, regardless of your political affiliation? Because in Texas, Republicans currently control all the statewide offices, and it is highly likely whoever wins the Republican Primary in any state race will win the
district officials to refrain from specifying a particular party when promoting the primary and the teacher voice campaign. Texas holds open primaries, meaning that in each two-year election cycle, voters can choose either
Monday, December 31, 2018 ?
says you can not say things such as, ?Vote for Scott Milder or Dan Patrick for Lt. Governor? or ?Vote for the LISD bond package? using district resources or time. The specific incumbent Republicans who represent the LISD area,
469-322-4265 ? LewisvilleTexan.org
Representatives Ron Simmons and Tan Parker and State Sen. Jane Nelson, were barely mentioned in the emails. Simmons said that he was aware of Doty?s cease-and-desist letter, and he gave Rogers and LISD his vote of confidence. ?I know Dr. Rogers well enough to know that he cares deeply about the students and staff and LISD. There is frustration by all of us relating to the current funding formulas for public education, which is why I support ending ?Robin Hood? and allowing all of the school tax revenue collected from property owners in LISD to stay in LISD,? he said. ?I am committed to doing my part to improve education for all the children in House District 65, and I know Dr. Rogers and his team at LISD are committed to doing the same.? District legal counsel Jeff Crownover emphatically denied that the district was doing anything wrong in February, and he continued to do so in August. He said that what the Attorney General?s office is accusing the district of is closer to political advertising than electioneering, and while political advertising is also prohibited for school districts, Crownover said their communication does not violate that prohibition either. ?Urging District employees to vote and stating that we believe our legislature should take better care of the over 90 percent of kids in the Texas public education system is clearly not electioneering,? he said. ?Even though the District believes that encouraging people to vote in a particular party?s primary is not against the law, it has generally chosen to stay away from doing so for the same reason the District decided to take down the tweet that was misinterpreted ? out of an abundance of caution because there is lots of confusion in the public arena about what is legal and what is not.? Crownover said there had been no further interaction between the district and the state office other than communications back and forth regarding the open records request. The district had requested an in-person discussion with the Attorney General?s office in February, but the state wanted to see the documents before having such a meeting.
April Fools
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Condom Sense super store to move in to old Alber tson?s on M ain Street Apr il 1, 2018 Staff Repor t
Condom Sense has announced it will debut an experimental ?super store? in Lewisville in the old Albertson?s on the 1000 block of Main Street, right across from Lewisville High School Main Campus. The city has agreed to provide as much as $69,000 in economic development incentives. The new store will be unlike any other Condom Sense establishment. Where they normally stick to the basics ? condoms, lubricant, novelty gifts, educational material and other items vital for sexual health, the Condom Sense superstore will use the additional room of what used to be a big box grocery store to expand its catalogue. Fleshlights, over-the-counter erectile dysfunction medication, all manner of harnesses and bondage furniture, knot-tying instruction manuals, shaving equipment, home video recording equipment, introductory feminist theory, gay agenda pamphlets,
Old Alber tsons store location on M ain Street (Photo by Ron Jeremy)
secondary cell phones designed exclusively to run the Ashley Madison App, late-term abortion pills and Nickelback albums are all planned to be in stock according to Condom Sense CEO Harry A. Soul. Soul said Condom Sense has been developing the idea
since the Albertson?s closure, which provided the company an ideal location. It?s right across the street from a school full of impressionable young children and in the heart of a city that has made its initial store on Round Grove Road one of the top sellers in the nation.
While department stores are folding as a business model, Soul says big boxes just need something bigger to fill them. ?There was a lot of hoo-ha about us coming to Lewisville in 2016, but it turns out a good chunk of you are real freaks,? Soul
said. ?Think of the new store as sort of a Sex Toys R Us, if you will.? Also planned for the superstore are four multipurpose rooms that can be used for classrooms or parties. The store will offer weekly seminars and regular classes on topics such as ?Kama Sutra for dummies,? or ?Pole dancing for fun and profit.? The business will have a sign indicating no one under 18 will be allowed entry. ?Seriously? You think we?re going to enforce that?? Soul scoffed. ?Come on.? As for the economic development agreement, City Council member TJ Gilmore said the city was just glad to find someone to take the space. ?It?s not like we can bring in another grocery store,? he said, referring to Albertsons? non-compete policy with its real estate holdings. The store is expected to open mid-May with a grand opening celebration. The first 1,000 customers will get free condoms and other prizes.
L I SD forced to classify students by clique in accor dance with new Texas law
Apr il 1, 2018 Staff Repor t
Lewisville ISD is scrambling to accommodate a new Texas law that requires school districts to document students? cliques instead of their ethnicity. Districts currently classify students as white, black, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander for purposes of the Texas Education Agency?s PEIMS system. The system allows districts and the public to confirm that students of all racial and socio-economic classes are performing at similar levels or improving at similar rates. The measures feed into school accountability. LISD and districts across the state will now be required to categorize students as nerds, jocks, preps, basket cases, thugs, great kids who made mistakes, princesses, burnouts, poors, plastics and sexually active band geeks. ?With this legislation, the Texas legislature proudly states that we don?t see race,? Gov. Greg Abbott said as he signed the bill into law. ?It?s what?s on the inside that matters, and now our schools will reflect that.?
LISD is completely at a loss on how to implement this change, with the key problem being that students often change how they identify as they grow older. ?How am I supposed to project the social status of a group of kids that hasn?t hit puberty yet?? fumed a Hedrick Middle School teacher, who spoke to The Lewisville Texan Journal under condition of anonymity. ?I?ve got a student who checks every box as a princess, but he might come back from summer break seven feet tall. Now, suddenly, he?s a shoo-in for the basketball team and has to be categorized as a jock!? Under the All Students Matter Act, if the new jock then got in trouble and was suspended, he would then need to be re-categorized again as a thug or a great kid who made a mistake. The state gives no guidance on which students are thugs and which are great kids. ?This is no way to track a population over time!? the teacher yelled. A Lakeland Elementary teacher, who also preferred not to be named because of LISD?s consistent ?loose lips
The Lewisville Texan Journal
sink ships? philosophy when it comes to dealing with the media, agreed. ?There are no burnouts in elementary school!? She yelled, nearly tearing her hair out. A Lewisville High School teacher, who also did not Group Of High School Students Sitting Outside Building - Via monkeybusiness @ want to be DepositPhotos named requirements on how schools This creates an because seriously LISD divide students in their impossible situation for might fire them for any cliques, specifically the schools that offer extra moment of transparency, ?nerd? category. Under the opportunities like Donald noted that holes in the list of All Students Matter Act, Elementary, which is gearing cliques mean it doesn?t get student pursuing up to become one of the first much easier even when the every advanced placement courses STEM elementary schools in students are mostly grown. the country, and The Colony ?Where are the gleeks? or early college credit must High School, which offers a Where are the goths? Those be classified as nerds, but at the same time, the legislature collegiate academy in are the ones that it would partnership with Collin actually be easy to identify!? has capped the number of the teacher said. ?Instead we students who can be County College. classified as nerds at 8.5 ?These kids are going to need to identify which percent, a decision that upon graduate high school with students are plastics? What investigation seems to be associate?s degrees,? a the f* * * is a plastic?!? based on no research teacher from the school said. LISD is particularly ?They?re all nerds!? hamstrung by some of the whatsoever. Please share, reuse or recycle after reading