What's going on in Brownwood ? " Yard Nazis " and Corporate Welfare !

Letters to the Editor Brownwood Bulletin
Wednesday July 19, 2006

Op Ed: Letters To The Editor
Appearances over deeds ?

To the editor:

The week before last, my son awoke to see from his second-floor bedroom window an older women roaming our back yard taking photographs. She then returned to a white pickup parked at Coggin Park. I heard she was photographing my yard because she wanted to complain about the condition of it. If such was the case, she was breaking the law in order to record and report her criticism. In order to take her photographs she had to enter the driveway and walk into the middle of the yard because our bushes blocked her camera view from the street. She couldn’t photograph what she wanted to photograph from the street side of the bushes unless she entered the property and stood on the yard side of the bushes. I insist that she out herself so that I may file a complaint for trespass. It’s only fair play.

As many know, my yard was the last yard to be awarded the Eyesore of the Week by the Brownwood Bulletin some years ago. Shortly thereafter the Bulletin quit awarding this prize. It seemed that some citizens canceled their subscriptions in support of my right to have a chaotic yard. Lila Cathey wrote the editor saying that these kinds of negative awards were unfair because the Bulletin never investigated the circumstances of the property owner, and that property ownership is sacrosanct as long as codes are obeyed. I think the Bulletin had good intentions. I was surprised by Mrs. Cathy’s letter but I agreed with it.

Allegedly, my yard was a topic of discussion at a political fund-raiser given a year ago by a local attorney. It is obvious that my yard continues to be a topic of gossip and concern. So, I would like to address some of the issues. I like seeing my yard ablaze with iris in the spring. I like seeing the lizards and other wildlife that make their homes in the weeds and wild flowers. I don’t like wasting money and water during draught conditions, or on plants that are going to be destroyed by various utilities cutting through my property during recent and continuing upgrades. (I wonder if she noticed that I planted three trees to replace the pecans the city cut down in order to widen the street?) I have other things I’d rather be doing and other things on which I’d rather (or have to) spend my money than manicuring my yard to pass the inspection of trespassing Yard Nazis.

Human nature is such that gossips don’t discuss good things. The fact that I provide Brownwood with 14 jobs, saved one of the most important historic structures in Brownwood, The Coggin Ford Bank, from the wrecking ball, spent a great deal of money and personal time cleaning up the lot across the street from Flowers by Phyllis, saved Downtown Brownwood Inc. from financial ruin by purchasing their parking lot for my employee parking and other downtown businesses, is less important than what my yard looks like. I get a distinct feeling it’s more important to a few people around Brownwood to LOOK good than to BE good, to harass people rather than to help people.

I have altruistically done a lot for this community, sometimes at considerable personal sacrifice. But, I draw the line at my yard. It’s my yard and not Brownwood’s yard — unless we are now ruled under communism and I don’t know it. I pay the taxes. I am the property owner. Mrs. Yard Nazi doesn’t have a right to be on my property. I want to enjoy my yard my way. She can enjoy her yard her way. Some people have broad green perfectly manicured lawns and narrow gossipy controlling minds. I don’t really care what other people think about my yard or me. However, since certain elements in this community seem to be more concerned about what my yard looks like than any other thing I have done, they should take upon themselves the task of making my yard the kind of yard they apparently so desperately desire. Better yet they should remove the splinters from their own eyes and garden their hearts.

Mary Stanley
Brownwood

source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/07/19/op_ed/letters%20to%20the%20editor/letter01.txt
---------------
Wednesday July 19, 2006
Op Ed: Letters To The Editor

Disappointed that incentive approved

To the editor:

I was very disappointed to read in the paper that the Brownwood City Council members approved a $200,000 incentive Tuesday for site development for a new hotel. Mr Bill Stewart owner of the 11-month old Hampton Inn told council members “We don’t need another hotel right now. “ I congratulate Mr. Grady Chastain for opposing this expenditure. The council would be more popular with the taxpayer if that $200,000 was used to repair the awful streets in Brownwood. Good streets in Brownwood would do more to bring business to the city than another motel.

Mrs. Martha Ours
Brownwood

source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/07/19/op_ed/letters%20to%20the%20editor/letter02.txt