Sondra Meyer

Well....I'm a little suprised how the College Station City council election turned out. Out of roughly 84,000 citizens in College Station, 5,422 voted for the Place 1 candidates. Turn out for the other two seats was slighly less.

John Crompton was re-elected for the Place 1 seat. Dennis Maloney beat out Ron Gay. And Lawrence Stewart, a new comer that had never even served on a College Station commitee, defeated Chris Scotti. The two incumbents that seemed to have the most "business sense" - are out. The neighborhood integrity, please don't build in or around my backyard group is in. This group, as a whole, appeared to consider the development community the "bad guys." Oh well.....

The winners did a good job of mobilizing SOME of the neighborhoods....especially those on the East side. I wish that the we, the citizens of College Station, could figure out how to get more people from different parts of the city to participate in elections. I realize this is not a College Station issue.... Voter apathy is an issue most city's deal with.

5 thousand voters was a great turn out compared to the city council race in Bryan. Only 849 people voted in the one contested city council race. ---Bryan's population is larger than College Station.

I wonder:

Would more people vote if College Station council seats represented specific districts within the city--similar to Bryan?

Would more people vote if council elections were timed to be held at the same time the national and state elections and/or primaries are held?

Why is it that low life scummy people are not the ones that get convicted of stealing thousands of dollars? No one trusts them with money, so they do not have access to large amounts of money.

Why is it that people (or companies) that we trust, respect, and admire steal money...even if they really don't need it? They were liked. They were trusted. They had access to the money. AND they rationalized their behavior somehow.

Does that mean that everyone that trusted the "thief" was a bad person or a poor manager? No. In most cases, it does mean that there was not an adequate system "internal controls" to have alerted someone to the problem sooner.

As a CPA, that formerly investigated fraud, I opted to write this post for two reasons:

1. If you are managing an office, don't forget that NO ONE is immune to theft and/or misappropriation of assets. Good people sometimes make poor decisions. I remind you to make certain that no one person has access to cash AND the ability to cover up discrepancies.

2. For those of us living and working in College Station, please realize that P. David Romei - the former Director of the Arts Council of Brazos Valley was highly respected and trusted prior to his indictment. Romei's actions and behavior, whether true or perceived, have disappointed many people and hurt the Arts Council's reputation. Obviously, from an accounting standpoint, there were opportunities to increase the oversight of the Arts Council's spending. However, it does not seem unreasonable to have expected the Director to have been the primary guardian of the funds.

It is not fair to allege that any of the current or prior College Station City Council members are untrustworthy individuals themselves simply because they trusted Mr. Romei. Although I support Ron Gay's stance on property rights, I am extremely disappointed that he would send out large re-election campaign postcards that state, "It is not safe to put Dennis Maloney in charge of our tax dollars." The post card has a big picture of David Romei's mug shot when he was booked into jail. Dennis Maloney, his opponent, was a former City Council member who supports the arts and apparently motioned that the Arts Center building be named after Mr. Romei.

It is unfortunate that Ron Gay has stooped this low in his campaign. It is even more unfortunate that Mr. Romei made some poor decisions that have not only tarnished the Art Council's reputation and but are now being used to discredit people who respected his efforts towards the arts.

What exactly does Art mean to a community? I realize this is a broad question, but what does it mean? Do people choose to move to your area because of the art that is found within a city or community? Is the atmosphere conducive to a certain type of artist's maybe?

In College Station, Ron Gay, one of our city councilmen, is running for re-election. As a private citizen, he is a very generous supporter of the arts. However, he believes a city should focus on core services rather than the arts. He believes that the art groups should raise money to support themselves and not rely on general funds (tax dollars) for support. During our discussion, he commented that people are not driving to College Station to see our statues. I had to laugh. He was right.

But, does that mean that the City should not support the arts?

Given that I was really busy going to school and raising my kids, donating money to support art was very low on my list of priorities. So.....being a practical, certified public accountant sort of person...I'm wondering just exactly how important is art to a community?

Do you carry your camera with you at all times?

On February 23, I took pictures of an old church, built in 1891, that had a historical marker for a post titled, "Just a Building? " http://activerain.com/blogsview/392250/Just-a-building.

I seriously considered saving the idea for this particular post for a month or so. In College Station, Texas, February isn't exactly a pretty time of the year. The leaves on the trees have yet to bud and everything is brown. This church had been there for a 117 years. What would a few more weeks matter? Fortunately, I didn't wait.

About two weeks later, as I'm driving down the road, from a distance, I realize the church's roof was missing! I drove over there. Historical marker was gone, trees were being cut down, and the building was being prepared to be moved.

Turns out the new owners of the property, Weingarten Realy, took time to find someone that was willing to move the church and save it from destruction.

One March 28th, the building was moved to it's new home in Navasota. The new owners, who own a construction business, plan to turn it into a one-bedroom house. That chapter in history has come and gone.

Notice, the leave on the trees have budded, but the church building is gone. Fortunately, I took the pictures when I had the chance.

How many pictures have you missed because you didn't have your camera with you?

As I've driven down the road this week, I find myself checking...are the blue bonnets still there? Comparatively, we haven't had as many bluebonnets this year, but they've been around. The first blue bonnet that I personally found this spring was growing in an abandoned parking lot.

Fortunately, those of us living in the Brazos Valley, we are just minutes from Washington County, one of the best places in Texas to enjoy the bluebonnets and other spring flowers.

My favorite spot to view the flowers is at the Old Baylor Park site in Independence. It is a very popular spot to take pictures. (The picture below was taken by Calvin Morrison of me and my horse.)

To get there, from College Station, the most scenic route is to drive through Navasota, take Hwy 105 and turn on the scenic trail - FM 390.

On 390, just west of FM 50, are the ruins of the original Baylor College and it's female department.

In addition to the ruins, the park features a one room schoolhouse from the 1900's and two of the earliest homes in Washington County. These homes, which belonged to John P. Cole are open on weekends for tour in March and April.

A drive to this area is not complete unless you stop off at the Antique Rose Emporium.

The Antique Rose Emporium is located on the east side of Highway 50, next to the ruins of the Baylor campus for males. I think you could visit the Rose Emporium a 100 times and it would be different each and every time, depending on what was in bloom. High quality plants are available for sale. However, even if you have enough resolve to NOT buy anything, the stroll through the gardens is simply delightful.