Free Republic

State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst said it’s time for Texas transportation officials to talk about real reforms to address the public outrage over the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor. The Brenham Republican’s reaction followed Thursday’s actions taken by the Texas Transportation Commission. The panel adopted a set of guiding principals and policies which will govern the development, construction and operation of all toll road projects on the state highway system and the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor. Bob Colwell, Texas Department of Transportation public information officer for the Bryan district, said the adoption of the guidelines does not reflect the final approval of Interstate 69...

Lufkin Mayor Jack Gorden has been selected by the Texas Transportation Committee to serve on a citizens' advisory committee for putting together information regarding the proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor. According to Texas Department of Transportation officials, advisory committee members represent a cross-section of community and business leaders, landowners, local transportation experts and others. "Our goal is to enhance the public dialogue and meaningfully involve more Texans in transportation decisions," said Texas Transportation Commission Chair Hope Andrade. "These committees will have an important seat at the table as we work together to shape the future of transportation for our state." Gorden...

Time is almost up for Texas residents who wish to submit a comment on the proposed Trans Texas Corridor, which must be received by the Texas Department of Transportation by Wednesday. Submissions of comments would have to be made either by mail or online at this point, and can be sent to I-69/TTC, P.O. Box 14428, Austin, TX 78761, or go to keeptexasmoving.com, then click on “question or comment” on the left side of the screen. Previously, throughout February and March, TxDOT held 47 well-attended hearings at which oral comments from the public were taken into account. The TTC has...

In the midst of inflation, funding difficulties and halted expansion projects, a budget error on the part of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) may have exacerbated their challenges. "TxDOT does some mysterious accounting," said Rep. Chuck Hopson (D-Jacksonville). "They had close to $1 billion counted in their budget twice." "That was a serious error on our part and we have made changes to try to prevent that type of error from occurring again," said TxDOT Spokesman Chris Lippincott, adding that the amount added twice in their financial statement was unrelated to the $1.2 billion in federal rescissions, which are...

A Waller County organization opposing a massive highway project is planning two informational meetings to help citizens prepare for upcoming hearings. Citizens for a Better Waller County (CBWC) says it will hold meetings to prepare residents for Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) hearings in Waller County. The hearings will be to discuss an environmental impact statement on the proposed Trans Texas Corridor’s route that could bring it through Waller, Austin and Washington counties. CBWC’s meetings will be held next Tuesday at the Waller High School cafeteria in Waller and Monday, Feb. 25 at the Brookshire Convention Center in Brookshire. Both...

Waller County officials are calling for the Texas Department of Transportation to hold another public meeting in their county on a proposed “superhighway,� after a Jan. 22 meeting was so packed that some people couldn’t squeeze into the meeting hall. TxDOT held a public meeting in Hempstead to gather public input on the Trans Texas Corridor’s proposed I-69 leg which could bring it through Waller and Austin counties, and small portion of Washington County. More than 800 people surged into the Knights of Columbus Hall in Hempstead. Officials said the hall is located on a narrow, dead end road that...

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...

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...

WASHINGTON COUNTY-- Parents of a marine accused in the November 2005 slayings of Iraqi civilians in Haditha are coming to their son’s defense.Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt, 22, who lived in western Pennsylvania for a time, is one of several Marines under investigation. Now, his parents, who grew up in Washington County, say their son told them he followed the rules of engagement.They say their son was raised a Catholic and knows the difference between right and wrong. The Sharratt’s also say they believe the Marines have abandoned those implicated in the killings.They also blame U.S. Rep. John Murtha for prejudging...

n When we first started hearing about plans for the Trans Texas Corridor, no one in our area seemed to know or care much about it. Now, this project seems to be all people are talking about. In the beginning, all we heard was a major highway would be built; we've found out that this is not quite true. It will be a toll road system with pipe lines and a rail system, and if you live in the north end of the county, it will not be "somewhere" else, it will either be at your front fence or back...

AL ASAD, Iraq - (August 2, 2005) -- In the small rural towns of Washington County, Ohio the chances of fellow residents serving in the military in the same place overseas may seem almost unheard of. But from that county of almost 64,000, three Marines are contributing to the Global War on Terror from the same unit. For the Marines of Marine Wing Support Squadron 271 the Washington County influence can be felt from the top. The commanding officer, Lt. Col. Jay Johnson, a 1982 graduate of Warren High School is in his second year as the Workhorses’ highest ranking...

Whispers in the dark BY ADAM WALLWORTH Northwest Arkansas Times Posted on Sunday, July 3, 2005 Just because you don’t see dead people doesn’t mean they don’t see you, especially if you’re in the Historic Washington County Courthouse. Whether there will ever be enough evidence to definitively prove the historic Washington County Courthouse is haunted is anybody’s guess, but Tulsa Ghost Investigators didn’t leave empty handed after their June 4 stay in the century-old building. "This courthouse does indeed contain some rather interesting, if not creepy, activity which is as yet unexplained," wrote Vicky Glidewell in her report of the...

COURTHOUSE HAS HISTORY OF THINGS GOING BUMP IN THE NIGHT BY ADAM WALLWORTH Northwest Arkansas Times Posted on Sunday, May 8, 2005 Maybe it’s the history of the place, or maybe it’s the lack of sleep, but there’s something about the Historic Washington County Courthouse. Whether that something was once human can be argued, but walking the halls of the building in the wee hours, it becomes apparent why so many people throughout the years have told of experiences with the unexplainable. Strange noises and doors that move of their own accord are common themes in the stories of those...

Attorneys: Navy arguments, findings 'divorced from reality' By BILL SANDIFER Staff Writer Attorneys suing the Navy to stop construction of an outlying landing field in Washington County contend the Navy's account of environmental studies outlined in its last federal court brief is "divorced from reality." Law teams representing the Charlotte-based firm of Kennedy Covington and the Chapel Hill Southern Environmental Law Center office responded Dec. 20 with a brief discounting Navy contentions that it had "fully complied" with National Environmental Policy Act requirements. "(T)he Navy paints a different -- but highly sanitized -- version of the process it followed," argues...

WDN News Analysis: OLF, chicken or egg? By BILL SANDIFER, Staff Writer The Pentagon has frequently cited the "fog of war" to describe confusion that can scramble the best-laid battle strategies. That same phenomenon may now beset circumstances surrounding the evolving decisions that led to the Navy's selection of Washington County for its preferred outlying landing field site. Just what came when -- and in what order -- now befuddles many who have followed the process since its inception. And the very record that reflects that evolution now appears subject to different interpretations by the Navy and OLF opponents. One...

To the Editor: With regard to your Outlying Landing Field (OLF) news articles and editorials, I would ask the question: Did Members of the U.S. Congress and Military violate their Oath of Office and act as agents to deprive citizens of rights guaranteed them under the U.S. Constitution; and specifically the XIV Amendment? I believe that the prospect of a decisive, concerted and active effort to deprive citizens of their due process protection of property rights by the federal government would draw serious concern from anyone who holds the Constitution as the foundation, structure and security of our society of...

Navy top gun calls the shots By BILL SANDIFER, Staff Writer As the Navy skated on the thinning ice surrounding its justification for a Washington County outlying landing field, a former Tiger Team member, Navy Cmdr. John Robusto, penned a document titled, "OLF justification verbiage." That paper was circulated among Tiger Team members who had been polishing the language to pass muster with high-level Navy officials. That account is gleaned from a court brief summarizing more than 200,000 Navy documents turned over to OLF opponents' attorneys under court order. Those documents form the backbone of the latest brief filed by...

SELC reveals OLF smoking gun By BILL SANDIFER, Staff Writer There was no judge on the stand, no Navy brass on hand, no opponents filling a courtroom. In the world of litigation, Monday was just another day of filing reams of legal briefs among Navy attorneys and two legal teams suing to halt permanently the plans for a Washington County outlying landing field. One brief, a motion for summary judgment, if granted, would stop OLF plans without completion of a civil trial in U.S. District Court in Raleigh. Contained within the 74-page motion filed by Southern Environmental Law Center attorneys...

U.S. Sen. John Kerry gained 67 votes on President Bush in Washington County after local board of elections officials certified the final results from the Nov. 2 general election. But the change in vote totals was not enough to alter the outcome of the presidential race in Washington County. President Bush won. All other election results in Washington County also remained unchanged from the unofficial results released election night. While the 67 votes Kerry gained in Washington County may allow him to chip into Bush's nearly 136,000 vote victory in Ohio, it likely won't change the outcome of the Buckeye...

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The Navy wants to build an outlying landing field for Super Hornet jets amid this farmland in Washington County, N.C. Drew Wilson / The Virginian-Pilot file  A federal judge today ordered the Navy to stop negotiations for land, all site preparation and construction of its proposed practice landing field in Washington County, N.C. The temporary injunction was issued in Raleigh by U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle pending a full hearing on a lawsuit, likely late this summer. The Navy wants to construct a single-runway landing field on more than 30,000 acres of farm land near Plymouth in northeastern...