Category Archives: local news

local news

Meeting set once again

I had reported on this blog my intention to comment on a special Princeton City Council meeting called to discuss the fate of that construction eyesore next to Wal Mart on US Highway 380.

Then the council postponed the meeting. It will meet this Thursday at 5 p.m. acting as the Princeton Housing Standards Authority. Now, they tell me, there will be a hearing to decide the fate of the abandoned, partially built, rotting luxury apartment complex that appears to be going nowhere in a hurry.

The general contractor got into a beef with the developer and walked off the job in the spring of 2023. My guess is that it’s about 40% finished. Will it cross the finish line? My gut along with my ol’ trick knee tell me “no.”

I intend to be present for this rescheduled hearing on Thursday. I don’t yet know whether the council make a decision that night. I asked Mayor Brianna Chacon whether there will be a decision; I haven’t received an answer.

I want to see some leadership on this matter rise to the occasion.

Let’s get rid of that eyesore.

local news

Carters’ work thrives

I cannot help but think of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter whenever I drive past a short street in Princeton, Texas.

It is a street where crews are building the second in a series of houses for Habitat for Humanity, a program promoted vigorously by the former 39th president of the United States and his late wife.

President Carter is about to turn 100. He’s already lived far longer than any man who served as president. He said recently he wants to live enough to cast his next presidential vote for Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for the nation’s highest office.

This blog post, though, is about the legacy that President Carter will leave for many worthy families across the nation and to the nation itself. Other houses will go up eventually on Harrelson Street and they will be occupied by families that qualify for receiving the gift of home ownership.

If only he was well enough to travel to North Texas to see the work being done for Habitat for Humanity and, in an important way, on behalf of the project for which the Carters were fierce advocates.

local news, media news

Blogging gets new life

1 Comment

I resigned from my final full-time journalism job on Aug. 31, 2012, having been informed by my publisher that I no longer would do what I had done for the Amarillo Globe-News for the past 18 years …. and I thought I was pretty good at it.

Silly me.

I would learn later that the publisher had me in his crosshairs when he announced that everyone’s job description had been changed. I fought for my job fiercely, telling the publisher ultimately that the industry I entered in 1976 bore no resemblance to what it had become by 2012. And that he was asking me to do things only a little different.

It didn’t work.

Immediately, I. began focusing my attention full time to High Plains Blogger, a platform I created a few years earlier.

I have mentioned many times on this blog how much I enjoy writing on it, offering my assorted views on this and/or that policy issue.

I have boasted from time to time that writing comes easily to me. I won’t brag about the quality of the prose I produce, just say that it does flow fairly easily off the tips of my fingers.

The subject matter helps determine the ease. I’ll be candid. Prior to President Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential campaign, it was becoming a bit problematic to find issues on which to comment.

Up stepped ‘vice President Kamala Harris. Biden endorsed the VP. She launched a full-frontal campaign from a virtual dead stop, raised a few tons of cash and injected this campaign with an energy level I haven’t seen since, oh, 2008 when Barack Obama took the nation by storm.

What does this mean for your friendly blogger? It means the proverbial chest where I store my ideas is full again.

I intend to remain engaged fully in this campaign. The blog is the only venue I have to offer commentary on the status of the effort.

So … I will weigh in. It feels good to be relevant.

local news

Waiting for monstrous project

When you mention the word “infrastructure,” there is a decent chance you’re talking about traffic.

And when you mention “traffic,” particularly in North Texas, you well might be thinking of US Highway 380.

You might wonder: What do these elements have to do with each other? The Texas Department of Transportation is fixin’ to hopefully correct the traffic problems by working on alternatives to traveling along US 380.

It’s a nightmare right now.

When we moved to Princeton five years ago we learned TxDOT’s plans for the region. They involve construction of loops around several cities from Denton to Greenville. Princeton sits about 35 miles from Denton and 21 miles from Greenville. TxDOT wants to construct a loop south of 380. It would attract through traffic to use the bypass, leaving local traffic on 380.

It’s expensive, man. I cannot remember the total cost of the highway work, but it runs in the tens of billions of dollars.

Now for the downer. I am 74 years of age, turning 75 in December. I mention that because I might not live long to see this project completed. I keep hearing how it’s going to take decades to finish this task.

Which brings me to the most important point. What will happen as this region continues to grow at its breakneck pace, which is projected for the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metro area?

Will the highway loops around the cities that straddle US 380 be enough to loosen the traffic flow? If not, then what does the state do?

I surely get how important infrastructure is for growing communities such as those strung along the highway. I am going to hope that TxDOT is thinking past when it completes this huge project .,.. and prepares for the next big one.

local news

Princeton zeroes in on complex

Much to my surprise, I learned today that the Princeton City Council is going to don another hat it is empowered to wear on behalf of the city it serves.

The City Council will sit on Aug. 12 as the Princeton Housing Standards Commission. It will meet to determine the fate of the unfinished apartment complex that has been rotting under the North Texas weather extremes for more than a year.

The meeting will begin at 5 p.m. at the Princeton Municipal Complex. The council/housing commission will determine whether the existing units comply with municipal building codes, regulations and standards.

Now, we’re getting somewhere, ladies and gents.

The Princeton Herald did a great job uncovering much of what has gone wrong with this apartment complex, which sits just east of Wal-Mart along US Highway 380. How do I say this nicely? I cannot. The project is a disaster, a hideous eyesore and is a blight on this vibrant, growing community I have had the pleasure of calling home for the past five years.

If the council determines it meets code, then there ought to be a probe into wholesale corruption at City Hall. There is no way on this good Earth the complex holds up.

The city has issued a notice of violation, noting evidence of mold/mildew, degraded oriented strand board, a lack of adequate fire protection, bottom plates sitting in rainwater, missing, damaged and improperly installed structural components, leaks in the roof and electrical work violations.

Pffew! It takes my breath away.

The city approved the complex in 2017 and issued a building permit in October 2021.

Then it went straight to hell.

Back when it was conceived, developers presented this project as comprising luxury apartments. It meant to describe three-story garden-style units on the15-acre site.

Well, what does one say about it now, other than to wish it would just plain go away?

I know this much. Prior to hearing about the Aug. 12 meeting at the city municipal complex, I had no plans for that evening.

Now, I do.

business news, local news

When to demolish?

I keep waiting, and waiting …. and waiting for the bulldozers to show up on a site I’ve been commenting on for some time.

It’s the apartment complex that someone started to build only to leave it undone more than a year ago. Since then, it has gone to serious seed, as in it’s getting unfit to finish.

It’s the one next to Wal-Mart on U.S. Highway 380 here in little ol’ Princeton, Texas. The developer and the general contractor parted company more than a year ago. The reasons for the snit aren’t known. The city seems to have decided the site isn’t up to code. It will issue the order to take it down in due course.

I might be sounding a bit repetitive with this post, but I want to make another point that I deem necessary to be made.

The city should never have to be put in a position such as the one that Princeton finds itself. City Hall is going to turn into the bad guy the moment it orders the bulldozers fired up. What appears to have happened is that the terms of the deal that brought this massive luxury apartment complex into being was not nailed down sufficiently to prevent the kind of kerfuffle that severed ties between the contactor and developer.

I cannot speak with direct knowledge of what should have been done, but I do know that Princeton, Texas, is now looking foolish — and unnecessarily so — because a partially built residential complex likely is doomed for destruction.

This is strange in the extreme.

business news, local news

Action — finally! — on business park

Well, you can just ruffle my hair and call me Frankie, for I have stumbled onto a project that has been a long time in the making.

I ran an errand this evening in Princeton, Texas, where I have lived for the past five years. My route took me south on Beauchamp Boulevard toward County Road 400. That’s when I saw a sign with the name of a general contractor just a few yards from a marker identifying the future site of Bois d’ Arc Professional Park.

What did I do? I took a picture of the sign and called the number of the contractor.  Then, expecting the call to go to voice mail, someone answered. It was Max Allen, the general contractor.

Allen then proceeded to tell me he is going to build a pre-school on the site. He said he expects to break ground “in about 60 days.” He said his work only entails the school but said there “might be other projects coming up as well.” I won’t take that last statement to the bank. Still, I am heartened to see some evidence of movement on a significant parcel of land that has just been growing weeds since I moved into the area all those years ago.

I have heard Mayor Brianna Chacon lament at least once that the professional park has remained empty. I will point out, though, that a new storage unit has gone up just south of professional park boundary. Chacon also has talked openly about the possibility of declaring a moratorium on single-family and apartment construction to enable the city to shore up its infrastructure.

With all that hanging over the city, I am tickled to reveal the apparent start of an important new commercial project on property that has been begging for it

local news

Now I’m a joiner

My life since its worst day came and went has taken a few odd turns and detours along the way. Today, it took another one of those turns I didn’t think it would take.

I joined a veterans group in Princeton, where I have lived for the past five years.

My life’s worst day occurred the day I lost my bride, Kathy Anne, to cancer. I more or less had pledged many years ago that I wouldn’t join a veterans group. Then she was gone and I found myself with lots of time alone on my hands. So … I joined the Bois d’Arc Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in my new hometown.

I am told that the post has a fairly robust membership comprising a lot of younger vets who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The post commander told me he needs a “few more old farts” like me to liven the meetings up. Good deal. I’m all aboard.

We’re going to meet once a month., For the time being the post meets at a Princeton Fire Department station not far from my house. The commander said that during the COVID pandemic, “We went broke and had to sell our building.” So, the Princeton FD stepped up and offered the vets a meeting place for us to gather and swap lies about our time serving the country.

This marks perhaps a new venture for me. My life has been restored to a semblance of normal. My grief has subsided sufficiently to where I am able to function properly.

I won’t have many war stories to tell, given that my time in a war zone was so boring and uneventful. I’ll just enjoy taking in what others have experienced …. and I might be able to share a bit of wisdom I have learned on my life’s journey.

environmental news, local news

Birds outsmart me

I have concluded that the term “bird brain” does an injustice to the creatures that actually rely on their brains to get them through life.

I now shall explain.

My wife, our sons and I moved to Texas in 1984, where we discovered right away that the Golden Triangle region of the state is rich in avian creatures. Kathy Anne wanted to treat them, so when we moved into our house in North Beaumont, we set up hummingbird feeders. My goodness, the birds literally flocked into our backyard to partake.

Years later, in early 1995, we moved from Beaumont to Amarillo … way up yonder in the far northwest corner of the state. KA was intent on feeding the Panhandle hummingbirds. Up went the feeders. Although the birds weren’t as plentiful as they were on the Gulf Coast, they did consume the substance we put out for them.

Then we moved again in early 2019, to Colin County, a tad north of Dallas. We set up the feeders again for the hummingbirds to enjoy.

Except that in five years in our house in Princeton, I have seen precisely one hummingbird. Just one! Oh, and what about the feeder’s contents? They disappear. Some birds are consuming this stuff … except they’re doing so when I am looking the other direction.

Go figure, man!

This will stand as my tribute to the fine-feathered creatures God produced for us spoil and for them to confound this smarty-pants human with their evasive tactics.

Hummingbirds, thus, should not be considered a “lower life form.”

local news

City finds way to beat low voter turnout

How do Texas cities do battle with an age-old problem of voter apathy and an inability or reluctance to actually vote for their political leadership?

The city I have called home for the past five years, Princeton, might have the answer. It schedules its municipal elections on the day we choose who should be our next president of the United States.

It’s genius, man!

Princeton will call for an election on Nov. 5 to choose who will serve as mayor. Incumbent Brianna Chacon already has declared her intention to seek another term as mayor. I am not yet aware of who would challenge her. Councilmen Marlo Obera and David Kleiber also are on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Now, normally these elections would come and go and virtually no one in this — or any — Texas city would notice. That’s because municipal and school board elections generally fall onto the laps of 10 to 15% of the voting public.

Princeton won’t have that matter facing it this election day.

The city is home to around 28,000 residents, which means roughly half of them are able to vote. If that’s the case, about 14,000 residents will be able to cast their ballots for mayor, city council and, oh yeah … for president of the United States.

That doesn’t mean that every eligible voter will actually do his or her part as a U.S. citizen on election day. Imagine, though, that a 60% turnout decides who will become mayor of Princeton. That means 8,400 residents will make a decision that, truth be told, will have more direct impact on their lives than the president.

I long have said that democracy functions better when more people vote than fewer of them do. I dislike the notion of handing all that power to someone else.