Elgin Courier (Elgin, Tex.), Vol. 125, No. 26, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 10, 2015 Page: 4 of 18
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PAGE 4
ELGIN COURIER - ELGIN, TEXAS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10,2015
Letters
1119111 11
Contrasts
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HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY
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Some thoughts on a rec center
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See “MAIL”, Page 9
To protect
and serve
Publisher’s
Commentary
vhere used to be a
group of kids
. that would play
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name of letter writers and anonymous letters will be discarded.
ball in my front yard
when I lived in Madis-
onville. I lived on a
corner lot, and there
was a mobile home
park behind me where
most of these kids
lived.
My landlord, who
lived right next door to
me, would run them
off at every chance he
got. People around
town used to comment
to me about it every
once in a while, asking
me how it didn’t
bother me and why I
let them do that.
My answer was sim-
ple: I grew up playing
in other people’s front
yards, and I had no in-
tention of being the
mean guy who was
going to run these kids
off for no real good
reason. There was sim-
ply nowhere for them
to play ball in their
mobile home park.
I’ve heard from a lot
of community mem-
bers here in Elgin the
last few weeks about
ter project is a good
idea because it com-
bines an additional
asset to our commu-
nity with the need for
a shelter, which is
aided by money from
FEMA. I think our
elected officials were
smart in wanting to
pursue a location al-
ready owned by the
city in order to save
money on a land pur-
chase. Furthermore, if
you take the nostalgia
of that old ball field
out of the equation, I
think the proposed lo-
cation makes a lot of
sense. It’s central, it’s
flat, it already has a
parking lot, it’s already
being utilized by pub-
lic transportation. But
taking nostalgia out of
the conversation isn’t
possible or fair. People
who don’t like the idea
of preserving a lightly-
used facility for pur-
poses of nostalgia
aren’t considering the
amount of time and
money that some peo-
ple in the community
have put into these fa-
cilities. Furthermore,
very nearly all of us
have some place that
was important in our
lives that we’d be
upset about hearing
being planned for
demolition. It just may
not be in Elgin.
So going back to my
question of whether or
not it’s worth losing a
ball field to gain a
recreation center, I
need to know more
about what this recre-
ation center would
look like. What serv-
ices would it provide?
What hours would it
be open? What regular
activities would be
scheduled? Would it be
staffed full time? Who
would staff it? What
would their job de-
scription look like?
What does your yearly
budget look like and
where does that money
come from? Is any re-
search going to be
done into what the
kids this place is
meant to serve actu-
Be
HLA
ELGIN COURIER
(U.S.P.S. 172-740)
Dan
KLEINER
%
‘v
our city council ap-
proving a location for
a new recreation cen-
ter/shelter. It seems to
me like nearly every-
one likes the idea, but
the location that was
approved for the old
baseball field on Hwy.
95 N has some people
upset. It’s a very com-
plicated conversation
because it involves
people’s childhood
memories and a place
that is symbolic of
something meaningful
to our community. The
question in my mind
becomes, “is it worth
losing this ball field to
gain a recreation cen-
ter?”
The story I men-
tioned at the begin-
ning was meant to
illustrate the chal-
lenges I think kids
face today after school
lets out. Elgin is
blessed to have a won-
derful parks system,
and this is a credit to
not only our city staff
and elected officials,
but also the commu-
nity members who
worked hard to make
them a reality. One of
the best things about
our parks system I
think is that they seem
to be well distributed
throughout the differ-
ent neighborhoods in
town. There are gaps in
the northern and
southern parts of the
city, assuming the map
I’m looking at is still
accurate, but it seems
that you’re never more
than a mile away from
a place to go play ball
in town. That said,
there are surely gaps
that exist between
what the youth in our
community would like
to have available to
them and what cur-
rently is. This is where
I think the crux of this
discussion should lie.
This recreation cen-
DAN KLEINER - PUBLISHER
PATTY FINNEY - MANAGING EDITOR
MARIE OTT - AD DIRECTOR
HEATHER ROMINE - BOOKKEEPER/CLASSIFIEDS
DAVID K. PHILLIPS - COLUMNIST
9
7/
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STATE OF
TEXAS
GOVERNOR
Greg Abbott
800-843-5789
LT. GOVERNOR
Dan Patrick
512-463-0001
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Ken Paxton
512-463-2100
U.S. SENATORS
John Cornyn
713-572-3337
Ted Cruz
713-653-3456
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Michael McCaul
202-225-2401
STATE SENATOR
Kirk Watson
512-463-0114
STATE
REPRESENTATIVE
John Cyrier
512-463-0682
BASTROP
COUNTY
COUNTY JUDGE
Paul Pape
512-332-7201
SHERIFF
Terry Pickering
512-549-5100
COUNTY COURT
Judge Benton Eskew
512-581-4277
JUSTICES OF THE
PEACE
Donna Van Gilder (Pct.1)
512-581-4258
Raymah Davis (Pct.2)
512-581-7112
Katherine Hanna (Pct.3)
512-332-7288
Larry Dunne (Pct.4)
512-581-7162
COMMISSIONERS
William Pina (Pct.1)
512-581-4001
Clara Beckett (Pct.2)
512-360-2764
John Klaus (Pct.3)
512-303-6800
Bubba Snowden (Pct.4)
512-332-7267
CITY OF
ELGIN
MAYOR
Marc Holm
512-788-6110
CITY MANAGER
Kerry Lacy
512-281-5724
POLICE CHIEF
Chris Bratton
512-285-5757
FIRE CHIEF
Randy Reyna
512-281-4025
CITY COUNCIL
Chris Cannon (Mayor
Pro-Tem, Ward 3)
512-217-1283
Mary Penson (Ward 1)
512-281-4158
Jessica Bega (Ward 1)
512-653-1900
Edward Maldonado
(Ward 2)
512-297-4258
Juan Gonzalez (Ward 2)
512-285-6499
Craig Fromme (Ward 3)
512-567-5702
Keith Joesel (Ward 4)
512-281-3182
Sue Brashar (Ward 4)
512-689-5692
ELGIN SCHOOL
DISTRICT
SUPERINTENDENT
Dr. Jodi Duron
512-281-3434
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TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
-22015
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ally want? These are
all questions we proba-
bly won’t know the an-
swer to until the
wheels have irre-
versibly started spin-
ning, but I think
they’re critical to the
success of this project.
I understand from very
brief conversations
with city leaders that
these questions will be
addressed, and in pub-
lic forums designed to
gain this type of feed-
back. I certainly hope
that does in fact hap-
pen, and that our com-
munity members take
advantage of the op-
portunity.
I’m not a big
“change” guy. I believe
in progress, but
progress and change
are two completely dif-
ferent things that for
whatever reason seem
to be viewed as inter-
changeable in our soci-
ety today. If this
proposed recreation
center/shelter provides
the youth of our com-
munity with substan-
tial programming,
resources, and any
other manner of things
that they didn’t have
available to them be-
fore, I think it’s very
hard to argue against
the project as pre-
sented. What better
legacy could exist for a
facility that once cre-
ated cherished memo-
ries for our youth than
for it to be reborn
again in a way that
continues that spirit?
But if it’s just going
to be an empty build-
ing on the side of the
highway that doesn’t
get used any more
than the current ball
field does, then that’s
not progress, it’s just
change, and change
without any real good
reason always makes
people mad.
Dan Kleiner is the
publisher of the Elgin
Courier. Contact him at
512-285-3333 or
dan@elgincourier.com.
Dead Editor,
Several years ago, I
came to Elgin seek-
ing a place to poten-
tially relocate.
I was driving down
Main Street at about
55 mph and was
pulled over by an
Elgin Police Officer.
In my dealing with
this officer, I was so
impressed with his
politeness, attitude
and demeanor that I
noted Elgin having a
“plus” regarding a
place to live and
eventually moved
here after exploring
other towns in cen-
tral Texas.
Recently, there has
been a lot of media
regarding “police
brutality”, "overzeal-
ous officers?” and
even “policemen”
being indicted for
murder. This is hap-
pening throughout
the country.
However, I certainly
don’t anticipate any
such occurrence hap-
pening in Elgin.
The reason that I
feel this way is that I
have met and spoken
with many of the
men and women that
are part of the Elgin
Police.
Their overall atti-
tude is that they are
“Peace Officers”
rather than “Law En-
forcement Officers”.
They are really
spending their time
serving us rather
than making a divide
between the police
and the citizenry.
Every one of the
Elgin Police are con-
stantly going through
training and continu-
ing education in
order to improve
their skills beyond
that of being just a
“policeman”.
They “wear many
hats” in doing their
duty. Sometimes they
have to be an arbitra-
tor, sometimes a sym-
pathetic adult,
sometimes an impar-
tial law authority,
and occasionally a
very serious officer
when put in a dan-
gerous criminal situ-
ation. These folks
have the potential to
put their lives at risk
every time they are
on duty so that we
don’t have to risk
ours.
When you see any
of these officers, stop
and chat with them
for a moment and
you will agree with
my point of view.
Anyone that feels
that they’ve been
treated unfairly or
wronged by any one
of the Elgin Police
should feel free to
address their issue(s)
with two of the
fairest men that
you’ll ever encounter.
Both Chief Bratton
and Assistant Chief
Taylor will listen to
you, give you intelli-
gent feedback, and if
they see that your
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Finney, Patty. Elgin Courier (Elgin, Tex.), Vol. 125, No. 26, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 10, 2015, newspaper, June 10, 2015; Elgin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1555287/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Elgin Public Library.