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The majority of residents from Walker and area counties made it clear Wednesday night how they feel about the proposed I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor. They are strongly opposed to it. An estimated 800 people took action on the controversial issue. The second town hall meeting in Huntsville, offering a chance for open dialogue between residents and the Texas Department of Transportation, took on a different tone than the initial meeting Jan. 23 at the Walker Education Center. With the main building at the Walker County Fairgrounds able to accommodate the large crowd, property owners and other residents expressed their dissatisfaction with Gov....

Some Texans are afraid of losing their land to the Trans-Texas Corridor while others loathe the thought of a quarter-mile-wide swath of toll roads and railway lines transforming the countryside into a superhighway. People continue to turn out in droves at public meetings concerning the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor proposal, specifically the portion known as the TTC-69 proposed from Brownsville to Texarkana. A meeting Monday, Jan. 28, at the fairgrounds in Austin County was no exception, drawing more than 1,000 people. Opposition to the proposed corridor has come from people in all walks of life, said Chris Steinbach, chief of staff...

BELLVILLE — In what is becoming a regular occurrence in Southeast Texas, more than 1,000 Austin County residents and interested outsiders jammed a county fairgrounds exhibit hall Monday night to let a panel of state transportation officials know that the Trans-Texas Corridor was not welcome here. State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, opened the public remarks to thunderous applause when she told the panel, "You all thought I was crazy in Austin when I said my people don't want it and I don't want it." The panel, which included Texas Department of Transportation Executive Director Amadeo Saenz and Deputy Executive Director...

Gov. Rick Perry's ambitious Trans-Texas Corridor plan, and his advocacy of toll funding for future roads, hit the skids in a skeptical Legislature last spring. The road shows no signs of getting any smoother as state transportation officials try to sell the plan to Houston-area audiences. "This will wipe me out," Dee Bond told a panel of corridor advocates at a town hall meeting in Rosenberg last week. The panel, which included Texas Transportation Commissioner Ned Holmes of Houston and Steve Simmons, deputy executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation, was there to explain and gather comment on a...

Austin County residents get their chance Monday to comment on a massive “superhighway� that could be coming through their county. And if the public meeting in Bellville is anything like those already held by the Texas Department of Transportation, it will include hundreds of angry property owners lining up for a chance to lambast the proposed project, called the Trans Texas Corridor. Gov. Rick Perry first proposed the TTC six years ago. If completed as much as 50 years from now, it would roughly parallel interstate highways with up to a quarter-mile-wide stretch of toll roads, rail lines, pipelines and...

Leaders with the Texas Department of Transportation sought to allay fears about the Trans-Texas Corridor Thursday night in Rosenberg with a “town hall” meeting. The meeting proceeded fairly smoothly, but hardly seemed to put a dent in the large crowd's seemingly uniform opposition to the proposal of a massive transportation corridor. Hank Gilbert, a regular speaker at TTC events and leader of an anti-TTC non-profit group, drew cheers for suggesting TxDOT officials have failed to make the case for a large, privately owned transportation cluster. “No good argument has been made for the TTC that would allow farmers to be...

More than 400 people from Walker County and surrounding counties attended the Texas Department of Transportation town hall meeting Wednesday night at the Walker Education Center. According to Bob Colwell, TxDOT public information officer for the Bryan District, the Huntsville meeting was one of 11 town hall meetings scheduled throughout the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor study area. Colwell said 25 TxDOT representatives attended to answer questions. “Tonight is the opportunity for people to ask any questions that they want,” Colwell said. “In the past, TxDOT has gotten knocked for not having open discussions, so that’s what we’re here for.” After the town...

State Sen. Glen Hegar says he opposes a route that would bring the mammoth Trans Texas Corridor through his district. The Texas Department of Transportation has kicked off a series of public meetings to discuss the project. Meetings are scheduled for Tuesday in Hempstead (6:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 22892 Mack Washington St.) and Jan. 29 in Bellville (at the Austin County fairgrounds, also beginning at 6:30 p.m.). No meetings are scheduled in Washington County, which likely wouldn’t be impacted much by the highway project. Much of the discussion in public meetings already held centers on Interstate...

It's not often that an individual makes such a significant and undoubtedly lasting impact on a state as big as Texas, but my long-time friend and Chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, Ric Williamson, certainly did. As most of you know, Ric died suddenly last month at age 55. It is true that as the state's transportation policymaker, he was a controversial figure. But, it has been my experience that people with visionary instincts and those who prefer to think outside the box are often considered different and unconventional. The world has a long legacy of resisting new ideas, even...

Hundreds showed up to a town hall meeting Thursday night in Lufkin, many with questions for Texas Department of Transportation officials about the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor that could run through or around Lufkin, Nacogdoches, Huntsville and other East Texas towns. As it's drawn up, I-69/TTC would include toll roads, high-speed freight and commuter rail, water lines, oil and gas pipelines, electric transmission lines and telecommunications infrastructure in one corridor running north/south through Texas. One primary purpose of the corridor would be to help with the state's projected traffic congestion. Although TxDOT directors assured everyone that nothing is set in stone and...

CARTHAGE — James Mason doesn't want a new highway cutting him off from his property. James Boggs wants to keep American jobs here. They were just a sample of about 140 residents who asked, commented and listened during a public forum with state transportation leaders Wednesday night in Carthage. It was the second of several forums scheduled along the Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, a proposed superhighway that likely will parallel U.S. 59 from Texarkana to the Mexican border. "We haven't done a very good job of (communicating) in the past," said Steve Simmons, deputy executive director of Texas Department of Transportation....

TEXARKANA, Texas — The biggest construction project ever attempted in Texas comes under public debate beginning Tuesday in the first of a series of town hall meetings about a proposed 4,000-mile network of superhighway toll roads. The Trans-Texas Corridor, or TTC, as it's become known, was initiated six years ago by Gov. Rick Perry. It's rankled opponents who characterize it as the largest government grab of private property in the state's history and an unneeded and improper expansion of toll roads. Texas Department of Transportation officials, and Perry, have defended the project as necessary to address future traffic concerns in...

Construction of the Trans-Texas Corridor is a long way off, but Texas Department of Transportation officials are letting people in areas affected by the project speak up now. The project, an extension of Interstate 69, will run from Texarkana to Laredo with a branch in the Corpus Christi area heading south toward Brownsville, Department of Transportation spokesman Norm Wigington said. Brazoria County and Houston are in areas expected to be affected by construction and operation of the roadway, slated for completion sometime in the next 50 years. It’s not clear what that impact of the highway will be, but the...

A state mobility agency wants local input concerning a major corridor that might slice through East Texas. A town hall meeting will be held in Carthage on Wednesday to discuss the Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor study area, according to a Texas Department of Transportation media release. The meeting, slated for 6:30 p.m. at the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame located at 300 West Panola Street, will be the first of 11 such discussions held statewide. Interstate 69 consists of two parts — a completed portion from the Canadian border to Indianapolis, and a mostly proposed extension to the Mexican border...

The State's Transportation Department has nearly 50 public meetings scheduled to hear from people along the proposed I-69 portion of the Trans-Texas Corridor. The corridor is planned as a superhighway with separate car and truck lanes, freight and commuter rail and utility lines. Parallel to I-35 [actually, that's the I-35 portion. --TSR] and the future I-69, today's US 59 are the planned routes. TEX-DOT's Randall Dillard says that several citizen's advisory committees are being set up along the I-69 and I-35 routes to get feedback. Opponents say the corridor will put Texas in a security risk and damage the economy....

The Texas Department of Transportation will hold several local meetings early next year to offer answers on the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor. In 2007 TxDOT released a tentative outline for the cross-country Interstate 69, which is currently planned to come through Texarkana. The highway would be a straight shot from Canada, through the United States and into Mexico. TxDOT will hold nearly a dozen “town hall� meetings and 46 public hearings to encourage public input and address concerns. “We want to hear the public’s ideas and we want to answer their questions,� said TxDOT Commissioner Ted Houghton. “Their comments will help...

People have a harder time coming up with alternative solutions to a problem when they are part of a group, new research suggests. Scientists exposed study participants to one brand of soft drink then asked them to think of alternative brands. Alone, they came up with significantly more products than when they were grouped with two others. < snip > “When a group gets together, they can miss out on good options,” study team member H. Shanker Krishnan told LiveScience. This could mean ordering from a pizza place advertised on television even if there’s a better option, or making a...

Texas Bill Would Fine Parents for Skipping Teacher Meeting, Charge Them With Misdemeanor Texas parents beware: miss a meeting with your child's teacher and it could cost you a $500 fine and a criminal record. A Republican state lawmaker from Baytown has filed a bill that would charge parents of public school students with a Class C misdemeanor and fine them for playing hooky from a scheduled parent-teacher conference. Excuses are allowed, but be prepared to have a good one. In a state that allows corporal punishment, this could subject parents to a good spanking. Rep. Wayne Smith said Wednesday...,...

WOODBINE —About 450 people packed the cafetorium of the Rad Ware building of Callisburg Elementary School off FM 3164 for an informational meeting regarding the Trans-Texas Corridor. At the starting time of 7 p.m. a line of people stretched past the library’s door to sign in. As the meeting commenced it was standing-room-only, as visitors took to the cafetorium stage and steps for seating. “Oh wow,” said Billy Baldwin, a Woodbine area rancher and one of the organizers of the meeting. Baldwin led the opening and closing prayers for the gathering, then asking for each person in the audience to...

There are many things to like about work — the collegiality, the productivity, the paycheck — but few people would include meetings in the list. Monotonous, time-consuming, often pointless, meetings can be to workdays what speed bumps are to main thoroughfares: annoying, well-intentioned impediments to progress. Now researchers have examined how an endless series of meetings can affect employees' sense of well-being and job satisfaction. In a report published recently in the Journal of Applied Psychology, researchers found that more people acknowledge meetings as a positive part of their days at work than they would ever publicly admit. The results...

Jerusalem Denies Reports Regarding Meetings in USA With PA Representatives 16:30 Feb 19, '06 / 21 Shevat 5766 (IsraelNN.com) Jerusalem sources issued a denial regarding reports that Israeli and Palestinian Authority (PA) representatives have met in the United States in an effort to find an acceptable way to continue transferring funds to the PA. According to an earlier report, based on a British Sunday Times report, officials met in an effort to channel funds to PA institutions that remain under the control of PA leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), thereby avoiding funds being placed into Hamas coffers.

Next week I'll be travelling to Washington, DC and staying there for 8 weeks. While there I'd like to attend some events at places like Heritage Org, Cato Institute, American Enterprise Institute, etc. Trying to inding the various events, across all the different organizations, is very time consuming. Is there a website, or publication, that indexes upcoming events of this nature? Perhaps a weekly supplment to the Washington Post, for example?

Tucson, Arizona [Pima] County officials plan to hold a closed meeting Tuesday to talk about the state open-meetings law. The ironic closed session is scheduled for the Board of Supervisors' Jan. 3 meeting in order to brief members on the legal fine points of open meetings. "We're an elected body and we need to set the example for open government," said Supervisor Ann Day, justifying the need for the closed session. "It's a refresher, a preventive thing, so we set the example and don't make any mistakes," she said. The open-meetings law says all meetings of any public body must...

Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Bible study groups are free to hold meetings at San Diego public schools without paying fees. The San Diego Unified School District has revoked an unpopular policy implemented in August to charge Scouting groups user fees. It also agreed to stop charging an elementary school Bible study group, the Good News Club, and similar youth organizations. The reversals are part of an effort by the district to settle a federal lawsuit filed by Child Evangelism Fellowship in June. The organization, which sponsors the Good News Club, alleged discrimination because it had to pay to meet...

DHS CITIZENS; DUCK TAPE YOUR OWN MOUTH! Since we the citizens have been excluded from participating in this selection City manager selection process, and this process is being rushed with help of OUT GOING lame duck crone's friends, PLEASE SHOW UP THIS MONDAY @ 5 PM & BRING YOUR OWN TAPE TO WEAR OVER YOUR MOUTH AS VISUAL PROTEST THE LOCAL TV & PRINT MEDIA CAN RECORD City calls meeting on Labor Day to avoid public comment. Posts meeting on on city web site for this special Labor Day on Friday for a meeting scheduled on Monday, September 5 @...

While Sen. Joseph Biden has been one of the most vocal critics of Sen. Bill Frist's plans to employ the so-called "nuclear option" to end Democrats' use of the filibuster to block President Bush's judicial nominees, he is less concerned about Iran going "nuclear," and has perhaps encouraged Iran's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Recently, Biden sat down for an interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace and stated that nuclear weapons in the hands of the Iranians was unacceptable. Yet this is the same who Biden has gone out of his way to reach out to Iran's mullahs and...

2/17 CORRIDOR OPEN HOUSE HITS TOWN AGAIN: North-south route at midway point of planning process, official says By LOYD COOK/Daily Sun Staff In the latest step in the evolution of Gov. Rick Perry's Trans Texas Corridor project, area residents examined large-scale maps, explanatory informational graphics and talked with Texas Department of Transportation representatives Wednesday. It was all part of an open house held in the commons area of Corsicana High School. Doug Booher, an TxDOT environmental manager, said the project is about halfway through the multi-step planning process. The Trans Texas Corridor is envisioned as a multi-modal effort that would...

Paris and Lamar County are still in the loop as the Texas Department of Transportation proceeds toward a new 800-mile-long route to more efficiently move traffic from Mexico to Oklahoma, the project manager for the so-called Trans-Texas Corridor says. TxDOT officials were at Paris Junior College from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday for the second time in four months to listen to concerns about Gov. Rick Perry’s pet project. The meeting was one of 47 being held from the Rio Grande to the Red River from Feb. 7 to Feb. 24 in North Texas, Feb. 10 through March 10 in...

Public invited to meetings about potential corridor locations for Trans-Texas Corridor By media releaseFeb 14, 2005 What, When, Where With more information on where Texas’ future transportation system may be located, the public is being invited to meetings on the Oklahoma to Mexico/Gulf Coast element of the Trans-Texas Corridor. From February 7 through March 31, the Texas Department of Transportation will hold 47 meetings throughout the study area. The purpose of the meetings is to present the public with possible locations for the project and gather their comments. Oklahoma to Mexico/Gulf Coast element Part of the Trans-Texas Corridor system, the...

Getting There: Ben Wear Time to pay attention to Perry's toll roads AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Monday, February 7, 2005 Back when the Trans-Texas Corridor seemed to be only a 4,000-mile, $180 billion gleam in Gov. Rick Perry's eye -- that is, a year ago -- it was easy not to take it seriously. The Texas Department of Transportation held informational meetings in all 254 Texas counties, and almost nobody came. At the one in Bastrop, there were three real human beings, plus me and about a half-dozen Transportation Department employees who looked like they'd much rather have been at home with...

The time to speak out and ask questions about the Trans Texas Corridor is near. Residents in Caldwell and Guadalupe counties will get a better understanding of potential impacts to their land usage and future tax revenues next month during Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) public meetings concerning the proposed corridor. The corridor, as envisioned, would consist of a network of brand-new "transportation routes" that would carry passenger vehicles and large trucks in separate lanes and also provide for railway freight, high-speed commuter rail and "infrastructure" for utilities including water, oil, gas, electricity, broadband and "other telecommunications services," TxDOT says....

The next meeting concerning the Trans-Texas Corridor has been set for 5-8 p.m. Feb. 10 at the Gainesville Civic Center. Officials have set forth the corridor as a way to alleviate traffic on the state's major highways by building a system of highways, railroads and utilities that stretch about 1,200-feet wide. Such a corridor also would bypass major metropolitan areas of Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston. From Feb. 7 through March 31, Texas Department of Transportation officials plan to have 47 meetings throughout the Interstate 35 corridor area, which covers 800 miles in length and 77 counties, according to...

"U.S. helicopters fly to places which haven't been reached for the whole week and drop food... No talking but action. European countries are until now invisible on the ground." "U.S. Navy flying aid missions, Bundeswehr still looking things over," said the headline Jan. 3rd in the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel (the Mirror). "While advance teams of the Bundeswehr (German army) are still camping in three tents at the Banda Aceh airport, Americans, Australians and New Zealanders have already flown tons of aid packages into disaster areas." At least the Germans were on the scene. On Jan 3rd, Canada's Disaster Assistance...

ROBERT N. Klein, the millionaire Portola Valley real estate developer, was sworn in Friday to lead California's $3 billion venture into stem-cell research. Klein, 59, was the main promoter of Proposition 71 on the Nov. 2 ballot and was selected to head the new California Institute for Regenerative Medicine by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrats Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and state Controller Steve Westly. He was sworn in at the first meeting of a 29-member board created by Proposition 71 to direct the new institute's activities. The state is expected to raise up to $350 million a year in...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

28 People Arrested Outside White House Protests Coincide With World Bank, IMF Meetings POSTED: 8:09 pm EDT October 2, 2004 UPDATED: 8:38 pm EDT October 2, 2004 WASHINGTON -- Twenty-eight people were arrested near the White House Saturday during a protest of the Iraq war. About 300 people gathered between the White House and Washington Monument. U.S. Park Police said they arrested those who illegally crossed a barrier between the White House and the protest. The 28 people who were arrested were trying to deliver a cardboard box to the White House. The box contained the names of people killed...

He who pays the fiddler calls the tune, so they say. And, if anyone thinks it's any different in Washington, they probably have their head stuck someplace it doesn't belong. Most of us would call what lawmakers get bribes. They don't, though. They call the donations -- the ones accounted for on the record -- "campaign contributions." They call their paid vacation trips -- family and all -- "fact finding tours." Then, of course, there are all the paid golfing outings, ski trips, sporting events, and whatnot, most of which are thousands of miles away from their state. Those are...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - State Treasurer Phil Angelides requested Thursday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turn over records of meetings with private interests regarding the California Performance Review, the 2,700-page proposal to overhaul state government. In a letter sent this week to Schwarzenegger's legal affairs secretary Peter Siggins, Angelides asked for all records of meetings between lobbyists, corporations, consultants, individuals or organizations that met with the governor or the CPR staff during the crafting of the plan. The governor's office maintains that the meetings held on the proposal were listed in the report and in 108 boxes of archived materials relating to...

As we watch CBS implode and Dan Rath possibly planning a nice retirement on the island paradise of his commie pal, I am amazed at how the eye has been taken off the ball. George Bush is not running for a first term. He is a proven commander in chief. He has been unwavering in taking it to the enemy that wants to end our way of life. Did children of important people get special favors? Yes. They always do in every area of life. Could Lt. Bush have missed some of his meetings? Yes. Could they have made a...

from the Kerry Ammo Armory...email-able, copyright-ready cartoon you can use in emails, on blogs, in flyers, on posters... anything that's noncommercial.  

'When ya gettin' rid of him?' Tony Blair has become an embarrassment to Labour's natural allies across the Atlantic - the Democrats Mark Seddon Friday August 20, 2004 The Guardian Out on the stump in Brooklyn with Democrat Congressional hopeful Frank Barbero came a chance to talk to the footsoldiers in an election that all agree is the most important in decades. America is polarised between red and blue - or, as some Democrats whisper, between progressive America and a revived Confederacy. With George, the Vietnam vet turned transit worker, and Jeff Gold, the eternally optimistic full-time organiser, we leafleted...

KerryTales: getting bigger and bigger... “John Kerry, Bob Kerrey. It's easy to get confused. At least that's how the Kerry campaign is explaining claims that Kerry — the Democratic presidential candidate — served as vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.” Associated Press article on the latest Kerry tale. The stories just keep on coming. As the reports surface (and the new Bush campaign ad) regarding Sen. John Kerry's abysmal attendance record concerning the Senate Intelligence meetings, the yarns from Kamp Kerry get bigger and bigger... Latest info to come to light? While Kamp Kerry's won't dispute him...

The Candidate With No Name By Andrew L. Jaffee, July 29, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms ”Defeat Bush – VOTE In 2004!” I’ve seen more bumper-stickers with this platitude than I’ve seen ones that simply state, “Kerry/Edwards 2004.” While my liberal friends rarely mention Kerry and Edwards, they constantly remind me of how much they hate President Bush. This year, the politics of hate rule. The Left doesn’t even have a candidate. They are galvanized mainly by visceral hatred -- a hatred which stands on shaky assumptions, like the lies that Michael Moore sells as truths. In Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore insinuates that...

I have made definite reservations for June 12th, 5:30pm to 6:00pm @ Willie's Sports Cafe, Willie's Sports Cafe 401 Crescent Avenue Covington, KY 41011 Phone: (859) 581-1500 So Far I've booked us for a dozen Freepers. I know this is going to seem tedious, but if you've already emailed me about going, please give your name & number of people coming with you in this thread. (just your first name will do). Then in a couple days we'll be able to see for sure who all is coming. If, by wonderful involvement, there are more than a dozen, I have...

June 12th, Covington Kentucky, Kenton County[tip top of KY across from Cincy]! Will be inviting State Representative Tom Kerr-(R). And there will be a former delegate there as well. Come and join us in discussion, and activism!

June 12th, Covington Kentucky, Kenton County[tip top of KY across from Cincy]! Will be inviting State Representative Tom Kerr-(R). And there will be a former delegate there as well. Come and join us in discussion, and activism!

All who are from Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio who would like to meet with other Freepers to discuss issues, bills, proposals of both, and likewise topics please mark your calendars for Saturday June 12th, around 5:30pm in Covington, KY (right off I-75 5th St. exit). There will be a private room, at an affordable yet quality restaurant. Willies Sports Cafe! It's not a bar,however they do have a full bar, a secluded game room, and large tv's throughout the dining area. I am not sure about the private room details. Please contact me soon if you feel you know of...

Hey anyone getting to this post, that lives in Northern Kentucky, and I don't mean Louisville. I mean, Covington, Florence, and Newport areas. We have two vans, and are heading down to Louisville this spring for the ~~~KY Freepers Meeting~~~ ~~~KY Freepers Meeting~~~ ~~~KY Freepers Meeting~~~ My old ford is a little bumpy, but for those who are sensitive, I've a newer ford also. We could fit about 6-7 extra people in our vans comfortably. If you want uncomfortable add two people. I'm asking for $2 per Freeper towards gas. And we don't allow any smoking in our vehicles. "My...

BEIJING (AP) - China and North Korea agreed ``in principle'' Thursday to reconvene six-nation talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program, Chinese state television said, reporting on an unusual meeting between a top Chinese official and the North's reclusive leader. China Central Television said the Beijing leadership expressed to Kim Jong Il that the concerns of both sides in the nuclear standoff - the United States and North Korea - should be resolved simultaneously. State television showed Wu Bangguo, the second-highest Chinese Communist Party leader and head of his country's legislature, meeting with a smiling Kim in Pyongyang. Wu is on a...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-North-Korean-Defector.html October 29, 2003 N. Korea Defector Holds Talks in D.C. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 7:07 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- The highest-ranking defector from North Korea, a man who once mentored leader Kim Jong Il, shared his views of the reclusive regime with senior State Department officials on Wednesday and planned to go public on Capitol Hill. The high-profile visit of Hwang Jang Yop could strain already jumpy relations between the Bush administration and North Korea even as the United States, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan hope to stage another round of six-nation talks about North...