It is no great secret to anyone that our great leader is unable to be civil to anyone without first humiliating them with a shameful degrading opinion that accompanies a raised voice and hand waving. The reprehensible verbal dog fights in open court over differing opinions relating to county business has brought the Commissioners Court to a shocking, immature standstill. Are there no adults in the room? Remember, we are paying for this immature side- show drama displayed by our elected childlike leader in the people’s house, our house being well documented in the meeting minutes.

 Our childlike leader is unable to make unilateral demands on issues and have the Commissioners automatically fall in line by the virtue of authority that is not the legal authority of the job when the desire hits to shoot yourself in the foot with ideas get voted down. By any standard it is the most ineffective way to hold a public meeting known to mankind.  So, to follow the thought of lighting your hair on fire to compensate for lack of legal authority to freely make demands and have your own way the obstacles must be removed.  Voting authority on certain levels must be removed away from the Commissioners to remove their ability to vote down any unilateral demand. 

Our glory hound's dream of grandeur is to remove the necessary authority away from the Commissioners by reducing them to paper pushers and hire a road engineer that our great leader can hold under his thumb. This would allow him to shoot himself in the foot and light his hair on fire -- all at the same time whenever the urge may strike. Yes, this act alone will satisfy one immature man. However, it will create a real hardship for the county and the citizens to dig deeper in their pockets for money they do not have.

First and foremost, the county does not need the expensive expertise of a licensed professional road engineer that has the capability of building highways and interstates to fix 16 ft wide gravel county roads in Fannin County. I too live on a gravel road, but when I spend money, I at least want a bang for my buck, and this is nowhere near, not even a little yelp. For the people who do have paved roads most of them fall into city limits and or state highways that are under the responsibility of the cities and or the state, not the county. One fact that should not be overlooked is that State Hwy. 56 is point-blank dangerous due to the uneven road surface.

Another issue is how the county is going to pay an additional $100,000-$200,000 in salary for a professional engineer the county does not need. Currently at this point the county is struggling to pay for ongoing current responsibilities by shifting money from one account to another to pay the bills. Last time I took note we are still dealing with the millions of dollars over budget on both the CourtHouse and now the new Justice Center to say nothing about the lawsuits being thrown at the county. Someone, please tell me where this money is going to come from. The trees in my yard do not grow money, I wish they did.

Out of the blue we have been told we need this professional engineer, and out of the blue we are supposed to believe everything we are told. No, it does not work that way. I have been around the block a few times and no, that does not work for me. Let us also not forget that what roads that may need repair, a road engineer will dole out services first come, first serve. There will be a waiting time of however many repairs come before your own. Let us also remember the expense of consolidation of all four precincts just to put this system in place. This consolidation that has not been budgeted for; it too will be out of pocket.

There are many other items on our wish list that are far more important to the citizens of the county than an overqualified engineer to fix gravel roads. We have people that fall into the poverty bracket of 12% of our total population that go hungry. In my opinion we are being asked to turn our priorities upside down and ignore dire human needs over the selfish demands of our glory hound. This selfish demand is nothing short of overkill -- all in the name of a self-serving demand to solve a personal demand that has nothing to do with official county business on any level, while at the same time holding the taxpayers of Fannin County responsible. If that is not a flaming red hot steaming cow pattie, then I do not know what is.

If in fact our great leader is reelected and this referendum passes in November and the issue of money has not changed, guess who is going to be left holding the bag.  We will be, the taxpayer. You and I and everyone else who pays taxes will be left holding the bag. When the taxpayers are put into a corner we will fight, yes, but we all know in the end we will stand up and accept responsibility and dig deeper into our pockets to pay the bills to keep our credit rating.

This is where each one of us must take a deep breath and think about our values and decide what is in our heart, what is it that we feel and, is it in the same thought and direction as where we are going. If this is not the case, then we are going in the wrong direction. If this does go through, there will be people that will have their lives damaged and irreparably changed for the worst, all in the name of greed to satisfy one man. How do we all feel living with that thought.  Do what we must, however, never do what will harm.

Our forefathers put into effect checks and balances to prevent the glory hounds (A "glory hound" is a person who excessively craves attention, praise, and fame, often at the expense of others) from running away with the powers granted to them by our vote. This election is nothing more than an out and out power grab from someone with an insatiable appetite that is ineffective, immature and demanding. Like it or not, if we do not say no to this glory hound, we will be looking right down the barrel at a tax increase. How much is a fresh hot steaming cow patty worth to you? Our great county leader thinks it is real hot stuff.

Counties listed are counties operating under current Precinct Road System

Camp, Clay, Cooke, Delta, Denton, Fannin, Franklin, Grayson, Hopkins, Hunt, Jack, Lamar, Montague, Rains, Wise, Wood

Beth Anne Knox