Category Archives: local news

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.

local news

Ticking has begun on montrosity

That ticking sound you might hear if you’re driving along US 380 in Princeton could be the sound of the clock winding down on a project that has been stalled for more than a year.

It is a huge “luxury apartment” complex of buildings next to Wal-Mart that has gone fallow. The city’s code compliance department is preparing an analysis of the project to determine whether it is out of compliance. My guess? It damn sure is.

According to the Princeton Herald: The notice from a city building official called the apartments a “substandard structure, constitution public nuisance and hazard to public health, safety and welfare.”

The notice also said, “the substandard, dilapidated structure(s) on the property needs to be vacated, secured, repaired and brought into compliance, removed or demolished.”

The developer who got into a big-time snit with the contractor — who walked off the job — had until June 16 to bring the site into compliance. He didn’t make the grade.

Now well might be the next step, which would be to take action to remove this massive eyesore from our line of sight.

That is all right with me.

Mother Nature has pummeled the half-built apartment complex with wind, rain, hail, extreme heat and extreme cold., Many of the interior structures likely are damaged beyond repair.

I happen to believe it is time for the complex to come down!

local news

My journey is complete

Drum roll, please, for I am about to make an announcement.

The journey through darkness I have written about extensively on this blog since I lost my lovely bride, Kathy Anne, to cancer has for all intents reached its end.

So much has happened to my family and me since the worst day of our lives came crashing down on us. We lost the pillar of our family to glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. She lost her valiant battle and left her family and friends in a profound state of grief.

I commenced my return back from the darkness by writing about that journey on High Plains Blogger. You know what? It helped me beyond measure. I found it within myself to share my grief with the whole world. The process filled me with hope that I could get through this period.

And I have done so!

I have told you about how I searched for light at the end of this journey. I am happy to report that the light on this day is far brighter than I ever imagined it would be immediately after Feb. 3, 2023 … which I have labeled as the worst day of my life.

Every one of those who comprise my worldwide network of friends and acquaintances have said the same thing: The pain never will go away. It will return without warning. You, though, will learn to manage it. You know what? They all were right! Here is a compilation of the entries I posted on High Plains Blogger.

Kathy Anne | Search Results | High Plains Blogger

I have learned that the overarching lesson in dealing with grief is to not let it consume me. It hasn’t. I am moving on with my life. Yes, I have some aspects of that new life to work on … but I can do so with a clear head and a heart that is not nearly as damaged as I reported earlier on this blog.

As one of my sons informed me, “If you can get something positive accomplished in spite of your grief, then you’re doing OK,”

There you have it … but I am happy to declare myself to be far better than OK. Kathy Anne would insist on it.

local news

Time for a rant!

Rarely do I use this blog to rant and rail about personal matters … but today I am going to make a brief exception.

I see a lot of “No Soliciting” signs on people’s front yards. I have nothing to sell, so I have no good reason to knock on someone’s door.

There is a “No Soliciting” sign in the flower bed in front of my front door. It’s there just as plain as the schnoz on my puss.

What’s the rant? You know where I am going with this. It is to bellow angrily at salespeople who (a) ignore the sign, (b) don’t see it or (c) ring my doorbell just to piss me off.

I won’t think the worst of folks, so I’ll rule out the last “reason.”

However, I don’t put those signs out because I like the way they look among the front-yard flora. I put them out there because I do not want salespeople seeking to sell me something this old grouch doesn’t need or want. The kid today sought to sell me a pest-control product he said would get rid of spiders. “I’ve talked to your neighbors and they told me they have spiders,” he said.

OK. My rant is over. Now I’ll return to more worldly items on which to, oh I don’t know … maybe offer a complaint.

local news

Sanity grips city council

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How about that? Sanity reared its welcome head in the Texas Panhandle as Amarillo rejected a goofy notion of turning the city into a “sanctuary for the unborn.”

The Amarillo City Council voted against a measure that had many Texans — such as me — worried about how the city would enforce such a nutty notion.

The plan called for the city to prohibit anyone from using public roads and streets to obtain an abortion. It empowered residents to rat on their neighbors and friends who need to end a pregnancy but were denied that right because Texas has all but made the process illegal.

According to the Austin American-Statesman: Councilmember Tom Scherlen expressed concerns over the impact of the proposed anti-abortion ordinance on local companies. He said it may impact those that provide travel for abortion in their insurance plans and could impede economic development as future businesses may avoid relocating to the area if the ordinance was in effect.

Money does talk. In this case it spoke loudly enough to prevent a Texas city from falling victim to governmental idiocy.

local news

City searches for ID

A friend and I were chatting the other day and the subject of “community identity” came up.

I had mentioned a story I was working on dealing with efforts to revive an abandoned schoolhouse in Farmersville where Black students received their education for the first eight years of school. My friend, who grew up in Dallas and who now lives in Fort Worth, said she was delighted to know that Farmersville is building on its identity.

“They have a lovely town square there,” she noted. Then came a subject I don’t recall discussing with her. “Princeton, on other hand, doesn’t have an identity,” she said.

Bingo! She wins the prize for intuitiveness!

I have raised that point in this blog almost since my wife and I moved here in February 2019. Princeton is in desperate need of a community identity, perhaps an annual event that spells out precisely what this rapidly growing city is all about.

Princeton is in the midst of a population explosion. The 2010 Census grew from 6,807 residents to 17,027 in 2020. Since then, the population stands at an estimated 28,000 people. The city’s population has quadrupled since 2010 … and more are on the way.

The city does lack what I believe is a municipal signature spelled out in a downtown core business district. There is no such place in Princeton. I have said for far longer than I can remember that every successful city has one common denominator:  a thriving downtown district.

Princeton doesn’t even have a “Welcome” sign on either end of US 380. Farmersville calls itself a “Texas Treasure,” to cite just one example of how a city can ID itself to those coming to visit or those who are just passing through,

None of this is to say that Princeton lacks a “reputation.” It has one of those … a reputation as a city with horrendous rush-hour traffic in the morning and evening. A word to the wise: Do not seek to travel on US 380 if you’re in a hurry between the hours of 8-9 a.m. and 4:30-5:30 p.m. That’s another story for another day.

Today’s tale will continue to argue for a community identity for a city I have grown to appreciate. I like living here. I would love living here once Princeton continues to grow and mature.