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Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Volume 33, Issue 6
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Happy Valentine's Day from the Hometown Press Chambers County to Explore Raising Homestead Tax Exemption By Wade Thibodeaux During the Tuesday, January 25, 2022 Chambers County Commissioners Court, an agenda item was discussed that would raise the over 65 Homestead Tax Exemption. The Court discussed several options, up to and including a complete and total exemption of County taxes for those over 65 years of age. The group seemed receptive to some tax relief and Chambers County Judge Jimmy Sylvia appointed Commissioners Billy Combs and Tommy Hammond to a committee that would study the numbers, visit with constituents, and report back to the Court. There is an item on the agenda for the February 8, 2022 Commissioners Court, but any action taken by the Court would be past the print deadline for this week's
The Hometown Press. Any action taken will be covered in a future edition. The Court also approved the application for a grant that would provide 80% of the cost of walking trails that have been proposed for Gregory Park in Stowell. The total cost of these walking trails would be an estimated $335,000.00 and the County match portion would be $67,000.00. The Court approved the use of $25,000.00 of HOT (Hotel Occupancy Tax) funds for Marsh Fest that will be held from February 21through March 15, 2022 in Winnie-Stowell Park. Chambers County Commissioners Court meets every second and fourth Tuesday of the month in the County Courtroom of the Chambers County Courthouse at 9:30 am.
For 52 years the Texas Rice Festival has been honored to support our area youth, organizations, and communities. In good times and bad, through flood, rain, or hurricane, through
pandemic, hard decisions and cancellations, the TRF has endured. In the last 13 years, including 3 cancelled festivals, the TRF has donated, awarded, and given to the following:
The TRF also adds a direct economic impact to local businesses during the festival and is the main fundraiser for many local Religious and Civic Organizations.
PLEASE SUPPORT THE TRF, IT IS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR WAYS TO SUPPORT YOU!!! Thank You, Texas Rice Festival Board of Directors
Letter From The Rice Festival
EC Education Foundation will host a bingo on Feb 12, 2022 at 7pm in the Winnie Community Building. Tickets are $50 and includes 20 games and chili dinner. Prizes are designer purses, guns, and camping gear!
The Hometown Press E n d o r s e s Po l i t i c a l C a n d i d a t e s
Jimmy Sylvia
By Wade Thibodeaux The following endorsements are the results of gathering of information on candidates by The Hometown Press Publisher Wade Thibodeaux and are based on research, past voting records, speeches given, answers to questions at political forums, and personal interviews with some or all of the candidates and are the sole opinion of Wade Thibodeaux. The candidates involved are the Republican candidates who are vying for the party nomination in the March 1, 2022 primary election. The Democrat candidates were not considered because in many of the positions(at least locally) there was not a candidate or they were unopposed and would face the Republican Party nominee in the November 2022 election. The US races and the Statewide races will not be evaluated. The first race that will be considered is the Texas Senate District 4(Chambers and other Counties) and that endorsement will be given to the incumbent Senator Brandon Creighton and that will be based on a theme that will be repeated several times in this article. The reasoning is that when things are going pretty good, don't rock the boat. Senator Creighton is unopposed in his
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Austin Tice
Primary race, but has spent a representative amount of time in the County listening to the citizens and is worthy of another term. Texas House District 23 is the District that represents Chambers County and parts of Galveston County. Texas House District 23 is a vacant seat previously held by Mayes Middleton who is seeking the Texas Senate District 11 Republican nomination. It is a crowded field with four Republicans pushing for the party nomination, but The Hometown Press endorses Patrick Gurski over Abel Longoria, Gina D. Smith, and Teresa Leo-Wilson. Gurski is a combat veteran who is a conservatve Attorney working and living in Galveston County. If no candidate receives over 50% of the vote on March 1, 2022, then a run-off election would be held on May 24, 2022 between the top two candidates to determine who would take on Democrat candidate Keith G. Henry in the November General Election. The Chambers County Judge's race is a winner take all race in that there are two candidates in the Republican Primary and no candidates on the Democratic Primary ballot. The Hometown Press endorses incumbent County Judge Jimmy Sylvia over challenger Rachal
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Brandon Creighton
Hisler primarily on the grounds that Sylvia has answered every talking point that the challenger has made. Hisler has called for transparency in County government and Sylvia has answered that the County has received several awards for transparency. Hisler has called for additional funding for volunteer fire departments and Sylvia has pointed out that the funding has increased steadily over the years so that now every department in the County receives over $60,000. per year. Hisler wants to fully fund law enforcement and Sylvia pointed out that under his leadership of Commissioners Court, they actually over funded law enforcement by providing the budget for three additional officers over the request of the Sheriff. All of this has been done with a tax rate that has declined over the years in one of the fastest growing Counties in the State, if not the nation. Once again, things are going pretty good and let's not rock the boat. People and businesses are flocking to the County and it's not because they like mosquitos, something must be going the right way for so much growth to be occurring. Additionally, Hisler has publically admitted that she wanted to run for Commissioner, but she was redistricted(happens
every ten years based on the census) out of the precinct that had a Commissioners race this cycle and so she decided to run for County Judge. That acknowledgement sounds like a fallback plan instead of a dedicated commitment. The only other contested County wide race is for the County Chairman of the Republican Party. The Hometown Press endorses Austin Tice over incumbent Eric Smith. This endorsement is due primarily to the presentation of each person at the Republican forum held in Anahuac. Tice talked about growth of the party and the ways for Chambers County Republicans to be examples for other Counties within the State and Smith answered that challenge with a response that the position was non paying and something that happened as time was available. This Republican Party in Chambers County deserves a Chairman who is committed to doing everything possible to make the Party as good as it can be. There are only a couple of other contested races within the County, but they are either out of the readership area of The Hometown Press or there was no opinion on the candidates. Other than the County Judge's race, all of the County wide positions are uncontested and that indicates that the citizens of Chambers County are pretty happy with the way that their government is working or otherwise those positions would have had challengers as well. Early voting begins next week on Monday, February 14 and goes through Friday, February 25, 2022. Election day is Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
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