Category Archives: local news

economic news, local news

TxDOT proposes huge project for Lavon Lake

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You could’ve knocked me over with a feather duster when I saw the headline in this week’s issue of the Princeton Herald that said, “TxDOT proposes widening Lake Lavon Bridge.”

This, boys and girls, is the kind of news that tells me the government gurus in Austin actually take what is happening in Collin County seriously enough to commit — at least in writing — to improving our transportation infrastructure that is becoming almost a one-eyed monster for those of us who have to travel on our roads and highways.

The Texas Department of Transportation is proposing a $230 million expansion of Farm-to-Market Road 3286 and FM 546. It would replace an existing two-lane bridge that most days becomes a scenic parking lot as vehicles inch their way across the lake in either direction. The Herald reported that TxDOT plans to “widen nearly five miles of roadway between Lucas and the Princeton area.”

Here’s part of the deal, though, and it gives me a bit of a hint of concern. TxDOT says the project is years away and it has designated zero money for the work that will be required.

That makes me wonder how TxDOT can propose and then stand behind the $230 million figure it hopes to spend on this enormous project.

I’ll tell ya, however, TxDOT has gotten a lot of people’s attention. TxDOT had a hearing at Southfork Ranch in Parker and a resident who lives on the Peninsula said, “We need just another way to get off the Peninsula because it’s so much traffic. It starts like at 5:30 in the morning.”

So … TxDOT plans a rescue mission to give some relief to those of us who grumble daily about getting caught in traffic. It’ll be a while, but damn, this is good news!

local news, military news

What if Trump shows up … ?

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Two weeks from takeoff from Love Field and I am beginning to run some things through my noggin and I should vanquish them … because none of them could actually take place.

Then again …

I am leaving on Sept. 11 for an overnight trip to Washington, D.C. I will be one of 45 veterans taking part in an Honor Flight, an event devised to salute military veterans for the service they gave to the country. I served for two years in the Army, from 1968 until 1970. I was sent to Vietnam for a time to work on airplanes and then assigned to the tactical operations center in Da Nang.

I came home and was greeted mostly with shrugs from friends. I didn’t get any “thank you for your service” greetings from strangers. That’s all changed. No longer do we treat service personnel as being at fault for our planners’ failures.

Honor Flights are designed to demonstrate a nation’s gratitude. Some of us on this trip are old enough to remember how we were treated when we completed our service in S.E. Asia.

OK, now about those thoughts.

Our trip coincides with the 25th year since the 9/11 attack by terrorists. My thought involves the four former presidents of the United States, all of whom should be honored for the work they did to bring the terrorist in chief, Osama bin Laden, to justice.

Will any of these men be around to greet us, or to receive our thanks for their service to the country? That’s what I am hoping will happen. Furthermore, I have a bit shared history with one of these gentlemen. I met then Texas Gov. George W. Bush in a personal 90-minute session I had with him in the summer of 1995. I have been hoping to see him again and remind him of that meeting and hope he remembers me.

The 9/11 attacks occurred during the first year of his time as president.

Barack Obama was on duty when the SEALs found bin Laden in May 2011. I have seen viral videos of him greeting veterans on earlier Honor Flights. Maybe he can find some time to do it again. Bill Clinton felt bin Laden’s wrath in 2000 when al-Qaeda terrorists blew a hole into the Navy destroyer USS Cole. Joe Biden was in the Situation Room as vice president the night of the SEAL raid. The former 46th president is ill with cancer, so I don’t expect to see him … but I would love to shake his hand and thank him for his 50 years of public service.

That brings us to the current president. What if he makes an appearance? My gut struggles with my brain. I detest the guy who is in office now. I respect and revere the office he occupies. What would I do if were standing in front of me? I would shake his hand … and that’s all I will say about that.

Will any of this occur? Probably not. I just wanted to let you know once again that am taking part in this Honor Flight with great pride and thanks of my own.

local news, media news

Social media has its benefits

Social media has its place in modern life … such as helping long-ago friends and acquaintances get to know each other better than they did back in the day.

I am experiencing that positive social media element right now, as I am getting to know a gentleman with whom I worked back in the 1980s when we first moved to Texas. I took a job as an editorial writer for the Beaumont Enterprise, stayed there for a bit less than 11 years before moving up yonder to take a similar job with the Amarillo Globe-News.

Social media have put me in touch with a fellow I knew in Beaumont. We didn’t know each other well at the time, but I surely knew of him and he knew of me. We parted company many years ago. I believe he went to Houston before I departed for the High Plains of the Panhandle.

We hooked up recently on Facebook and for the past few days I have had the pleasure of filling him in where my life has taken me. I have informed him of the tragedy I experienced in 2023 with the passing of my bride, Kathy Anne, to glioblastoma. I have been able to tell him I am recovering nicely from the grief and have rebuilt much of my life here in North Texas, where we moved eight years ago.

I have been duped along the way by individuals who weren’t who they said they were. This reacquaintance, though, is the real thing. It has demonstrated the immense power for good that social media can bring.

local news, political news, State news

Here is a sure-fire political prediction

A while ago I gave up trying to predict political tides … particularly in Texas, a place I have called home for the past 42 years.

I’m going to veer off that wagon for just a moment and offer this tidbit for you to ponder, which is that James Talarico doesn’t beat the stuffing out Ken Paxton their race for the U.S. Senate seat, the Texas Democratic Party might as well pack it in forever.

Talarico is the Democratic nominee; Paxton is running under the Republican banner. What is going to get plenty of play in the weeks to come is that Paxton well could be the weakest GOP candidate for statewide office in memory. I can think only of the late Clayton Williams, the GOP candidate for governor in 1990 as someone whose weakness rivals Paxton.

Let’s look for a moment at Paxton’s record. He served in the Legislature as a state representative from Collin County. Then he got elected AG in 2014. Almost immediately he got indicted by a Collin County grand jury on an allegation of securities fraud. Then several of his top lawyers resigned and then lodged a corruption complaint against Paxton. After that the GOP-dominated Texas House impeached Paxton on charges that he took bribes and cheated on his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton; Sen. Paxton then filed for divorce from her husband, citing “Biblical grounds.” He then gained amazing wealth on an AG’s salary and recently has been frolicking with a married woman.

Kind of a head-spinning record, ya know?

Talarico is campaigning as a goody two-shoes. He’s a former school teacher, a Presbyterian seminarian, a man of deep Christian faith. He leans heavily on his faith but understands that the Constitution of the U.S.A. is a secular document and that our founders were consciously keeping religion out of government’s nuts and bolts.

I just want this young man to take his message across the finish line ahead of the other guy. If he doesn’t, then we’re in deeper trouble than I ever imagined.

business news, local news

Hang on to your highway patience

Well, kids, we have entered that phase of construction along US Highway 380 between Princeton and McKinney that is going to test everyone’s patience.

I am going to remind myself — and others who read this blog — that the time has come to draw heavily on our cache of patience. We also must remind ourselves constantly that this work has an end. It will be done eventually. When it’s finished, I suspect this well-traveled thoroughfare will be significantly more pleasant to motor along than it has been for some years.

The Texas Department of Transportation has launched an ambitious right-of-way improvement project that will take years to complete. It will widen US 380 from four lanes to six. As I drive west of Princeton along the highway, I notice several areas where concrete has been been poured and has dried. It’s intermittent. That means the sections that are done cannot be used.

No biggie, man.

The work along 380 is just part of TxDOT’s plans for the highway. Soon (at least I hope it’s soon), the agency will begin work on freeway loops around several cities along the highway. Princeton is one of them.

I have one fear to give me worry while the work trudges on. It’s the fear that we could lose some businesses along the right-of-way. I noticed, for example, that two burger joints have shuttered, a Dairy Queen along the south side of the highway and a Wendy’s along the north side.

What do we do about any of this? Hah! Not much can be done. I am looking for alternative routes to travel. I’d feel OK about that except if I’m looking for Plan B routes, so are thousands of other North Texans. The message, then, for all of us is as clear as it can get.

Just be patient.

local news

Community ralllies to save a huge event

A marvelous event has just taken place in a community that sits about seven miles east of my house in Princeton along U.S. Highway 380.

Citizens rose rallied to bring back a long-standing event that has become an attraction of sorts in North Texas. Old Time Saturday had been put on the far back shelf in Farmersville when organizers decided they could no longer do all the work needed to keep it going.

The Farmersville community said, in unison, “Not so fast.” So, the Chamber of Commerce, the school district, the Farmersville Rotary Club, the City of Farmersville, Farmersville Centennial, Farmersville Parks and Rec., and the Farmersville Community Corp., cobbled together a partnership to revive Old Time Saturday.

So, an event thought to be possibly a thing of the past has become very much an event for the present — and hopefully for the future. Old Time Saturday will occur on Oct. 3. Visitors will be able to shop, consume lots of good food, watch a parade through downtown Farmersville, enjoy entertainment and all told just a hell of a good time.

I’ve covered a number of these community events during my many years in local journalism. This is a rare event to see a community rally the way Farmersville has done to preserve a long-standing event that pumps a lot of money into the region. Old Time Saturday will get a chance to pour even more funds into Farmersville.

Too often I have watched communities throw up their hands when organizers grow weary and then announce the event for which they toiled was going away. The Farmersville Centennial group had taken the lead on organizing Old Time Saturday for many years. I found out that many of the volunteers upon whom Farmersville Centennial depended on for help had other things to do. Planning and execution of the event fell on just a handful of folks. They, too, grew tired.

The collection of agencies, though, demonstrates to me that Farmersville, a rapidly growing community in eastern Collin County, wasn’t going to let an event that draws thousands of visitors to Farmersville every year was not going to throw dirt on the event and bury it forever.

Old Time Saturday is back. Farmersville has done itself proud.

local news, State news

Talarico’s time has come?

James Talarico has gotten the attention of a lot of politicos far outside Texas’s vast borders … and with good reason.

The young man stands a decent chance of wresting the Republicans’ vise grip on statewide office in Texas. It’s not necessarily that Talarico is an immensely strong candidate. His strength lies in the weakness of his GOP rival, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Paxton is being called the “most corrupt politician in the country.” He might be all of that.

He was indicted in his first year (2015) as AG by a Collin County grand jury for securities fraud allegations. What has gotten little play in the national media is that Collin County is Paxton’s home county. He represented the county — where I now live, by the way — when he served in the Legislature. For a hometown grand jury to decide the charges brought against Paxton merit a trial, well, that’s a big …. deal. You know what I mean?

Then he got impeached by the Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives. The GOP-laden Senate didn’t convict Paxton. Why? Beats the stuffing out of me.

He’s been accused of taking bribes, of doing favors for political contributors — and of cheating on his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, who’s divorcing her hubby on “Biblical grounds.”

I’d be willing to write Paxton off. Except for one thing. He is a Republican and GOP voters in this state have shown a remarkable loyalty to their party over the actual qualifications of candidates who run under that party flag.

local news

Princeton takes key step toward maturity

Princeton has made a significant turn to becoming a grownup city in North Texas, and its new city charter, formed in a November 2022 election, illustrates a key point I want to make with this brief blog post.

It is becoming a hybrid community of sorts, with part of its expanded City Council representing the entire city with the rest of the council representing those who live within certain voting precincts.

The charter states: Seats 1, 2, and 3 shall be elected by the qualified voters of the City at large. Seats 4, 5, 6, and 7 shall be elected by the qualified voters residing in assigned single-member districts, which shall be implemented for the election of Council Members for those seats held in 2030, but shall be elected by the qualified voters of the City at-large until districts have been implemented.

With that pronouncement, Princeton joins other growing communities in recognizing the desire — and the need — recognize the issues raised by certain neighborhoods.

To be sure, there’s a bit of risk involved with this kind of governing framework. One of them involves the potential for turf battles. City council members might argue that their community’s project is more needed than those sought for another project on the other side of the city. This is where at-large members can step in and cool whatever rancor might develop.

The mayor, of course, will be elected at-large, so we could get a feel for the kind of leadership Eugene Escobar Jr., is able to muster as he leads an expanded governing council. The charter expands the council from five members to seven.

All in all, though, I am delighted to see the city take this important step. My wife and I came to Princeton after living 23 years in Amarillo, a city of 200,000 residents. Amarillo is governed by five council members who all represent the city at-large. We argued at the newspaper where I worked that the a-large system worked for Amarillo. I didn’t agree with that editorial policy, so I spoke out against it when I left the paper in August 2012.

Princeton is taking an important step toward a modern recognition of the huge diversity that exists among its population, which now is estimated to be well north of 40,000 residents.

Welcome to the new world, Princeton City Hall. I wish you all the success you can muster.

local news

Princeton can follow neighbor’s lead

Princeton and Farmersville are far from being twin municipalities. Princeton’s population has exploded to more than 40,000 residents, while Farmersville sits just a bit north of 5,000 … or thereabouts.

However, Farmersville just went through a city manager search that was done in the open, with as much transparency as the hiring firm could allow. Princeton’s search for a city manager is beginning and the larger community’s approach appears quite promising, in that it will be far more transparent than the sequence that produced the previous manager, who resigned after spending less that two years on the job

Then-mayor Brianna Chacon promised a transparent search. She failed to deliver on that pledge. Mike Mashburn jumped out of the tall grass and met the city council for the first time, and then was hired on the spot after meeting the council in executive session. Few people ever saw Mashburn coming. The city has hired a firm to conduct a national search this time around. It promises a see-through process.

The Farmersville model for hiring a city manager ought to be followed by their friends in Princeton. The Farmersville council narrowed the list of applicants down to three, brought them in to meet the public and to get acquainted with the council. Farmersville then settled on Angela Smith to replace former City Manager Ben White, who resigned after 15 years on the job.

The Farmersville search process included town hall meetings with the finalists and although the sessions weren’t exactly well attended, the council sought to expose the finalists to the community they all sought to govern. My hope for Princeton is that the council follow the lead set by Farmersville.

There’s another aspect to the Princeton manager search that deserves a hand-clap. The firm that produces the finalist who gets hired will perform a search do-over at no cost to the city if the manager leaves his or her job with a year of being hired.

That’s a pretty damn good deal. I look forward to seeing how this process plays out.

business news, local news

Princeton takes big step toward ‘adulthood’

Well now … it appears that Princeton, Texas, the city I’ve called home for the past seven years, is taking its next big step toward municipal adulthood.

I am a happy taxpaying resident of this growing community.

They’ve broken ground on the Princeton Town Center development, meaning that construction is going to start soon on a major grocery outlet that will serve as an anchor store for the massive complex on the corner of US 380 and Beauchamp Boulevard. They say the Kroger store will be open for business in July 2027, with much more to come.

I have waiting seemingly forever for this news to break. It did so this week with a story on the Princeton Herald. Joining Kroger in the anchor category will be Home Depot and Hobby Lobby. All the anchor stores will be completed around the same time, says the developer. Dozens of other outlets also are planned for the Town Center.

This is precisely the kind of development that Princeton has needed since it began its growth explosion about the time my wife and I moved here in February 2019. We have welcomed lots of new neighbors, but damn few new businesses to spend our money. The Princeton Town Center, comprising 63 acres, is going to give this city a bit of a municipal identity I have thought has been missing.

If you mention Princeton to someone from a neighboring community, the response usually entails some mention of the hideous traffic that moves ever-so-slowly through the community of about 45,000 residents. The Texas Department of Transportation is working to alleviate that matter, too. It is expanding US 380 and  eventually plans to build freeway loops through cities along the east-west right-of-way.

But I am delighted with news that Princeton Town Center will begin to take root on property that’s been awaiting this kind of activity. Princeton has been underserved for too long as it continues to add new residents. May the construction about to begin conclude at a reasonable time … in the near future!