Category Archives: local news

local news

Good bye and good riddance to old eatery

There’s a certain symbolic value in watching what’s taking place at the site of a restaurant that used to do business on the north side of Interstate 40 just east of Western Street in Amarillo.

The building is being torn down. As of this morning it was sitting in a pile of rubble. I reckon the heap will be hauled off soon.

It used to be home to a place called Sava. It was an Italian joint. I never ate there. The owner closed the place this past year.

His closing of it, though, drew a lot of attention.

You see, he posted this snarky-in-the-extreme note on the door. I cannot recall the details of the note, but I do recall that he denigrated Amarillo’s eating habits while saying good bye to the community. He made some smart-alecky comments about how the folks in Lubbock likely know better about the fine cuisine that had been served at the place.

Then he threw in a crude sexual quip that, for the life of me, I couldn’t recall why he even said such a thing — other than to get his jollies off with what he thought was a clever joke.

Well, it wasn’t.

Sava is history. A chain restaurant is going to be built there. McAlester’s is a barbecue joint. Imagine that: BBQ in Amarillo, Texas. Whatever, the company has an eatery already in Amarillo, so this will be its second restaurant here.

I normally wouldn’t even bother to comment on the demolition of the old site, except that the owner of the former eatery had the terribly bad taste to say good bye to Amarillo in such a crude manner.

See you in the next life, Sava owner — whoever you are.

 

local news, State news

New county judge's plate will be heaping

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Nancy Tanner isn’t shying away from the huge tasks awaiting her when she becomes Potter County’s next judge.

It’s not exactly a done deal just yet, although it’s virtually so. Tanner won the Republican Party primary in March. No Democrat is on the ballot. Still, she has to go through the motions of an election in November. It’s safe to assume she’ll be elected in the fall, then she gets set to take the gavel from her former mentor and friend, Arthur Ware, who fired Tanner from her job as his administrative assistant in 2013 for reasons no one yet really knows — officially.

Job One for the new judge?

It appears that the Courts Building needs replacing. Not repair. Or refurbishing. It needs to be knocked down.

No one in county government — at least those with whom I’ve spoken — likes working in the structure that Ware calls without a hint of affection the “Grain Elevator.”

It was completed in 1985, which means that it has fallen apart in less than 30 years. Compare that with the Santa Fe Building, which houses several county offices. That Santa Fe was built in 1930 and as a friend who works for the county told me this morning, he toured the then-vacant structure right after the county bought it in 1995 — before the county lifted a finger to fix it up — and said “We could move right now!”

I should add that the county paid a grand total of $400,000 for the 11-story office building.

How’s the county going to pay for a new Courts Building? Tanner told the Rotary Club of Amarillo this past week she believes certificates of obligation are an option. The county has a relatively light debt load, she said.

Now the big question: How much would a new building cost? My spies at the county tell me they’ve heard estimates that hover around the $150 million mark. Would the county issue that COs to cover the entire cost? Tanner didn’t say.

The building is a piece of crap. Everyone seems to agree on that fundamental point.

It needs to go. Finding a suitable strategy to replace will keep the new county judge up late at night.

Welcome back to public service, Judge Tanner.

 

 

local news, Uncategorized

JP candidate has a record of his own

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There’s been a lot of talk lately about Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg’s fitness for her job, given that she was convicted of drunk driving — the kind of crime she prosecutes others for committing.

Is the Democrat fit to hold her job? I don’t think so, but she’s on the job until the end of the year. Then she’s out.

Now comes word much closer to home that a Republican candidate for Precinct 2 justice of the peace in Potter County has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assault of a family member.

Rich Herman is running against Democratic incumbent JP Nancy Bosquez. Should he be elected? For the same reason Lehmberg shouldn’t still be DA down in Travis County, the answer is no.

http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?id=1087238#.U_lS6FJ0yt8

Herman says he pleaded guilty to save his family further trauma. He’d been charged initially with a felony, but agreed to the plea deal after it was reduced to a misdemeanor charge.

A misdemeanor conviction doesn’t disqualify someone from seeking public office in Texas. It surely ought to matter, though, whether to elect someone with a criminal record to a judicial position.

I live in Randall County, so I won’t have a say in who will serve as Potter County Precinct 2 justice of the peace. So, accept this view from the proverbial Peanut Gallery: Better to have someone adjudicating cases who doesn’t have such a blemish on his record.