The Boerne Star (Boerne, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 69, Ed. 1 Friday, August 28, 2009 Page: 5 of 42
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FRIDAY, August 28, 2009
The BOERNE Star
Page 5A
4
I E W P O I N T S
When in doubt, follow the money
When analyzing politics it is always PROGRESSIVE VIEWS Edward Hanway made over $12 million,
useful to follow the money. In the current ------------------------------------Other insurance CEOs received between
struggle over health insurance reform, Claire Oxley Gluck $4 million and $9 million.
the health industrial complex (to para- KENDALL COUNTY By contrast, the highest salary for a
phrase President Eisenhower) has spent DEMOCRATIC PARTY member of the U.S. Senior Executive
$784 million on lobbying in the first half Service (Civil Service) is $168,000. That
of 2009 to prevent health care reform. ____________________________________would be the salary of the “CEO” run-
The pharmaceutical industry spent $370 ning a public health insurance option.
million’, hospitals and nursing homes twice as much for drugs as they charge in The status quo is obviously good for
spent $152 million; insurance compa- many of the world’s richest countries. the health industry, but is it good for
nies spent $145 million; and health That is because the governments of you? No.
professionals spent $117 million. Canada and European countries negoti- If You have health insurance, under our
Imagine how much health care could ate with the drug companies. Ours does current laws your insurance company
have been provided in the first half of not. can decline to renew your contract if you
2009 with that $784 million. Pharmaceutical companies claim that become unprofitable for them. Even if
Where did that money come from? Our if the US Government were to negotiate you are not dropped when you become
pockets - our insurance premiums, out of to hold prices down, it would cut down seriously ill, if your expenses reach the
pocket expenditures on drugs, hospital on research and development. If that annual or lifetime cap for reimburse-
and doctor visits and our tax dollars, is true it means that American citizens ment, the odds are good that you will
As taxpayers we spend a great deal on are carrying the burden of R&D for the end up in bankruptcy.
prescription drugs for veterans, Medicaid whole world. Half of all personal bankruptcies result
recipients, active duty military personnel Essentially, Americans are giving for- from high medical bills, and most of those
and retirees and we subsidize drugs for eign aid to the likes of Switzerland, declaring bankruptcy had insurance.
Medicare recipients. Germany, Japan and France. ‘ If you lose your insurance for any
What did we buy with our $784 mil- Actually, the pharmaceutical com- reason, such as being laid-off, and you
lion over the last six months? We paid panics spend more money on drug have had cancer or have a chronic condi
the salaries of 1,309 lobbyists employed advertising than on R&D. And their tion, you might not be able to buy new
by the health industry to pressure and profits far exceed the money they put insurance.
cajole 435 members of the House of into R&D, they just would like you to The price of insurance premiums is
Representatives and 100 Senators, think that R&D would be affected. rising far faster than the rate of inflation
That is 2.4 lobbyists for each elected About 30 percent of our insurance pre- or salaries. More companies are going
representative. miums go for administrative costs and to find they cannot provide insurance
We also paid for all those scary ads overhead. Where is that money going? t0 their employees or will pay a lower
aimed at convincing us that health care Some of it goes to lavish compensation percentage of the coverage.
reform will be bad for us. for insurance company CEOs. The status quo is not good for you.
Why would the health industry spend For example, Ron Williams of Aetna
so much to avoid reform? Obviously the received $24 million last year in sal- Claire Oxley Gluck served as an Amer-
status quo is lucrative for them. Pharma- ary, bonuses, stock options and other ican diplomat for 20 years and has
ceutical companies charge Americans compensation. The CEO of CIGNA, H. retired to Boerne.
PROGRESSIVE VIEWS
Claire Oxley Gluck
KENDALL COUNTY
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
End-of-life counseling
She hadn’t brought me into this world,
but she sure carried me around a lot in it.
She took me to places I never thought I’d
go. She warmed me when I was cold and
protected me when I was scared. She enter-
tained me with music and enlightened me
with talk.
In recent years, though, she had become
more and more disabled, less and less use-
ful. She eventually went quiet. I simply sat
in her presence, listening only to the wind
outside.
Was it time to set the wheels in motion
toward a planned expiration? I was her
WRITE OF CENTER
Kevin Thompson
KENDALL COUNTY
REPUBLICAN
PARTY
ditch me for that bimbo Prius were you?”
No, honey. It was just a moment of
weakness in front of a pretty government
handout.
The Cash for Clunkers program seemed
guardian, so to speak, and I contemplated so surreal: A central government entices
the options. its citizens to relinquish valuable assets in
Then, everything changed. I closely order to splurge on equipment they may
examined the details and realized that my have likely purchased in the near future
1998 Volkswagen Passat got too good of anyway.
gas mileage for eligibility in the Cash for The relinquished (and running) vehicles,
Clunkers program! which could be used to, say, transport
Her radio no longer worked, but she still jobless citizens to promising employment
got a combined highway/city 22 miles per across town, are then destroyed.
gallon, 4 mpg over the program’s maximum If the goal was pollution reduction, per-
for passenger vehicles! haps cash for clunky heavy machinery,
My emotions were mixed. I sure wanted locomotives and transport trucks would
a $4,500 subsidy for my next car purchase, have gotten us fewer fumes for our buck.
Who wants to miss a free lunch? Not many, And if the goal was economic stimulus,
which is why the initial $1 billion allocation we should have put the dollars into research
for the program was hardly enough. and development in order to manufacture
On the other hand, I really didn’t want a sooner the powerful, spacious, affordable,
car payment, nor did I want to see the girl high-mpg vehicles that sell on every week-
who never left me stranded choke to death end of the year, not just the three in August
on liquid glass. (Federal rules mandated that when Uncle Sam brings his checkbook,
every trade-in run on a sodium silicate solu-
tion until the engine block locked up.) Kevin Thompson is a former chief of staff
So, I was relieved when my vehicle’s end in the Texas House of Representatives and is
of life question got pushed to another day. now assistant vice president at Texas Heri-
She seemed to purr a little sweeter after that tage Bank. He can be reached at kevin@
as if to say, “You really weren’t going to kwt.info.
Looking back in time to plan for the future
(Editor’s Note: This is the first of
a four-part series concerning the
importance of drought contingency
plans, conservation and water use
restrictions during drought con-
ditions. The next installment is
scheduled Friday, Sept. 4.)
REALITY OF DROUGHT
Milan J.
Michalec
CONTRIBUTING
WRITER
to drought, a drought contingency is considered the standard for state
plan would be included in the water planning, far worse droughts
Rules of the District. have been documented. A 2006
Because local conditions can be University of Arkansas tree ring
unique, these plans can prescribe study commissioned by the Gua-
varying levels of restricted water dalupe - Blanco River Authority
K4
Check out our Online Poll at
www.boernestar.com
BELL
HYDROGASY
I Premium Propane Fuel Since 1931 1
Early Fall
Fill Special
LOCAL WATER HISTORY
“Most of the Boerne homes of
the 1850s got their water from
springs or the crystal-clear Cibolo
Creek. A few homes had shallow-
water wells that were between 30
to 35 feet in depth.” Garland Perry,
Historic Images of Boerne, 1982.
THE REALITY OF
DROUGHT
The ongoing drought has kept water
not only in the local headlines, but
regionally throughout the Hill Coun-
try from San Antonio to Austin.
As the drought persists, water
availability, which by definition
of state water planners is “the
maximum amount of water avail-
able during the drought of record,
regardless of whether the supply is
physically or legally available,” is
being reduced.
In turn, this is affecting the exist-
ing water supply - defined as the
“maximum amount of water avail-
able from existing sources for use
during drought of record condi-
water resources.
The effects of record low pre-
cipitation, coupled with record
high temperatures, for an extended
length of time, are vividly seen
as area creeks and tributaries that
feed the major rivers have mostly
dried up.
A portion of the Guadalupe River
is a dry riverbed just above Canyon
Reservoir. This reservoir and many
others in the region are reporting
all time low levels.
As it is the groundwater from the
Trinity Aquifer system that dis-
charges to feed those creeks and
rivers, that can only mean the level
of these aquifers is steadily drop-
ping as well.
Near Wimberley, one can look
into the Trinity Aquifer through
Jacob’s Well. Sixty feet down, the
artesian springs ceased to flow in
October 2008. Electronic moni-
toring today indicates the flow is
again near zero.
use. Managed in response stages,
the points that trigger each stage
can be variable as well.
The most common goal in a
typical plan is to reduce outdoor
watering. This is because outdoor
water use can account for as much
60 percent of the daily water use in
the average household.
THE 40,000-FOOT VIEW
Looking beyond the single indi-
vidual or family whose water
supply comes from the ground-
(GBRA) indicates a drought in
1707 - 1717 in South Central
Texas exceeded the drought of
record. In the Edwards Plateau,
and the Hill Country, the worst
drought was documented in the
years of 1571 - 1580.
(An Air Force retiree and gov-
ernment contractor, Milan J.
Michalec represents Precinct 2 on
the Cow Creek Groundwater Sup-
ply District Board of Directors.
water of a single private well or Post comments at www.boernestar.
a much larger source supplying com.)
water for thousands within the ,
BOERNE & COMFORT AREAS
CALL (830) 249-3311
San Antonio: (210) 533-7103 • Surrounding Areas: 1 (800) 683-2355
FILL UP
SPECI
F F
EACH GALLON
■ when you fill your tank.
(100 gal. min)w
Aug. 17-Sept 11
• Heating
• Cooking
• Commercial Fuel
• Residential Fuel
★ Tanks
• Water Heaters
• Cylinders
• Gas Log Sets
. „ „ Physical evidence throughout
tions that is physically and legally the region is clearly showing us
available tor use. the water available from both sur-
face and groundwater sources is
reduced in this time of drought.
Until the rains return, in order
to meet the minimum standard
needs for health and safety, most
existing water supply systems will
depend on the effectiveness of
water restrictions.
WATER
Though it may be possible to
develop alternate water supplies,
they are many years and many dol-
lars away.
As the primary source of water
in Kendall County is the Trin-
ity Aquifer, this means today the
existing water supply is finite and
drought is reducing it daily.
To meet a reality like this,
drought contingency plans are
implemented when necessary to
protect the health and safety of the
public.
Until this drought ends, drought
contingency plans are going to
remain a necessary way of life
for those who live in both the
cities and rural areas of the Hill
Country.
TWO YEARS OF DROUGHT
IN THE HILL COUNTRY
Rising from the western edge of
the South Central Region of Texas
and continuing into the Edwards
Plateau Region, is the Hill Coun-
try. From San Antonio to Austin
a drought that began in 2007 is
beginning to take a heavy toll on
CONSERVATION VERSUS
WATER RESTRICTIONS
Restricted water use is the result
of implementing of a Drought
Contingency Plan.
The Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality (TCEQ)
requires water utilities to prepare,
adopt, and when necessary, imple-
ment drought contingency plans.
They are intended to reduce the
use of water for short periods of
time should a water supply become
inadequate.
The Texas Water Code requires
Groundwater Conservation Dis-
tricts to address drought planning
as part of the District Management
Plan. To facilitate implementation
of management objectives related
boundaries of a single community,
water planners recognize water
resources are shared regionally
with the potential to affect the
entire population of Texas.
Three basic terms form the basis
of water planning. These terms
explain why we are seeing wide-
spread implementation of drought
contingency plans throughout the
Hill Country.
The key terms that need to be
understood are available water,
existing water supplies and
drought. Note there is a criti-
cal distinction between available
water and existing water supplies.
As the agency responsible for the
State Water Plan, the Texas Water
Development Board (TWDB)
defines available water as “the
maximum amount of water avail-
able during the drought of record,
regardless of whether the supply is
physically or legally available.”
The existing water supply
is defined by the TWDB as the
“maximum amount of water avail-
able from existing sources for use
during drought of record condi-
tions that is physically and legally
available for use.”
Texas water planning requires
both must be managed under a
worst-case scenario - the drought
of record. By TWDB definition
this is “the period of time dur-
ing recorded history when natural
hydrological conditions provided
the least amount of water supply.
For Texas as a whole, the drought
of record is generally considered
to be from about 1950 to 1957.”
Though this mid-1950s drought
Notice of Public Hearing
on Tax Increase
The City of Fair Oaks Ranch will hold two public hearings on a proposal to
increase total tax revenues from properties on the tax roll in the preceding tax
year by 3.16 percent (percentage by which proposed tax rate exceeds lower
of rollback tax rate or effective tax rate calculated under Chapter 26, Tax
Code). Your individual taxes may increase at a greater or lesser rate, or even
decrease, depending on the change in the taxable value of your property in
relation to the change in taxable value of all other property and the tax rate
that is adopted.
The first public hearing will be held on September 10, 2009 at 7:00 PM at
City Hall, 7286 Dietz Elkhorn, Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas.
The second public hearing will be held on September 17, 2009 at 7:00 PM at
City Hall, 7286 Dietz Elkhorn, Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas.
The members of the governing body voted on the proposal to consider the tax
increase as follows:
FOR:
Cheryl Landman
Mark Anderson
Conrad Fothergill
Fred Jones
Al Schmidt
WATER WATCH
Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District
COMFORT TEST WELL
feet
CURRENT RESTRICTION LEVEL: 5
FOR MORE INFORMATION,
VISIT WWW.CCGCD.ORG
Against:
Present and
not voting:
Absent:
Mayor Dan Kasprowicz
The average taxable value of a residence homestead in City of Fair Oaks
Ranch last year was $378,066. Based on last year’s tax rate of $0.2415 per
$100 of taxable value, the amount of taxes imposed last year on the average
home was $913.03.
The average taxable value of a residence homestead in City of Fair Oaks
Ranch this year is $399,198. If the governing body adopts the effective tax
rate for this year of $0.2341 per $100 of taxable value, the amount of taxes
imposed this year on the average home would be $934.52
If the governing body adopts the proposed tax rate of $0.2415 per $100 of
taxable value, the amount of taxes imposed this year on the average home
would be $964.06.
Members of the public are encouraged to attend the hearings and express
their views.
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Cartwright, Brian & Velvin, Candace E. The Boerne Star (Boerne, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 69, Ed. 1 Friday, August 28, 2009, newspaper, August 28, 2009; Boerne, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1667434/m1/5/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Patrick Heath Public Library.