Travis County Commissioners Court
October 7, 2008
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next.
this item gives residents an opportunity to address the court for up to three minutes on any matter not on the agenda.
gus pena is first.
he will be followed by skip richter, who will be followed by ronnie -- ronnie we will ask you to proper announce your last name for us, if you would.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, gus pena.
first of all I would like to acknowledge and congratulate the members of the 4 h club.
johnston high school back in the 60s had a 4 h club.
I'm part of the new club, I'm a proud member and alumnus, keep up the good work.
the economy.
I hear the presidential candidates and other people talking about the middle class.
there is no more middle class as far as we're concerned.
you look out in the community, you look out nationwide.
it has been wiped off.
there is no middle class.
they are poor.
the have nots, the needy.
so I would suggest this to anybody who is running for office, reelection or whatever.
be cognizant of the fact that poverty is prevalent out there, not only here, but in the city of Austin, Travis County, central Texas, wherever.
the problem is going to get worse.
last year in November I informed the city council and this elected body that we were in a recession.
believe it or not, you look out there.
I don't need to have indicators from an economist.
I'm not an economist.
but when I was an i.r.s.
investigator, we audited several different components, one of them was the economy, how it dealt with the i.r.s.
and taxpayers.
believe it, this is poverty, it's going to go worse.
we need to deal with it effectively.
the other thing that I'd like to speak to is this.
a lot of people out there lost their jobs, a lot of people need food.
I congratulate and thank and acknowledge central Texas Austin city, Travis County residents for being generous and giving and caring to help out the poor and needy and havenots.
first and foremost, please, whenever you donate please, please, also make allowances for people on special diets, heart conditions, donate food low in sodium, sugar content.
judge Biscoe, commissions, you are going to see more of a needing request for social service agencies, we are going to be taxed, we are going to be hurt because of our economy and budget.
please, I know this elected body has a good, caring heart.
I thank you all for that because there's going to be even more need out there for assistance, not only for food but rent et cetera.
mhmr forum at the state capitol, October the 13th, citizen input will be heard and taken.
called 463-4630 for more information.
but next Monday, next Tuesday excuse me, Monday I'm sorry, there will be a forum that's very important to hear input from people because mhmr is the critical key issue that we encounter, not only in veterans, kids out there, people would whoa have been you are the -- who have been hurt in automobile accidents.
lastly, I would like to thank judge melissa good win of the 427th district court.
I knew her when she was jp 3.
she did well in dealing with the parents and students in compulsory attendance laws, also truancy matters.
a good heart.
patient with the parents and the students, that's very important and given alternatives to fines, finding that -- that csr, community service rest substitution, whatever, to work in alternatives for our kids we get in trouble.
anyway, last thing, I will quit.
math tutors for our students for math throughout the schools.
aisd, whatever.
please volpe tear your time to -- volunteer your time to help a student get current in math.
thank you.
>> skip richter is next.
if we could get ronnie to come fort, vicki carp, also.
>> good morning, judge and commissions, I'm skip from the Travis County agrilife extension office.
pleased to introduce to you two new members of our staff.
I have replaced myself in the horticulture position with logan,
>> [indiscernible], taking on the duties of horticulture for both commercial industry and homeowners and citizens here in Travis County.
>> [indiscernible] malek comes to us from Austin, our new 4 h agent working directly in underserved audiences in Austin.
we are looking forward to new clubs reaching parts of the city and parts of the community that haven't been reached before.
she will be filling those roles.
>> good.
>> welcome to both of you.
looking forward to working with you.
>> glad to be here, thank you.
>> let us know if we can be of assistance, otherwise we will try to stay out of your way.
>> thank you.
>> welcome.
>>
>> [ applause ]
>> ronnie?
>> thank you, sir.
my name is ronnie.
>> how do you pronounce your last name.
>> I choose to pronounce my name reeferseed because I'm trying to help save our future and conserve topsoil to feed everybody on this planet.
but god bless our troops.
this is kind of a personal note here with -- there are many returning injured with traumatic brain injuries from -- many from ied's and similar things.
similarly, I was put into a coma for only 10 days or so.
because of my very own tbi.
my head without a bicycle helmet had shattered the windshield of a car that hit me and the relevant fact here is that my still ongoing recovery was and is greatly facilitated by the reintroduction of tetrahydracabinal, thc.
therefore I must urge all fellow patriots to help our brave troops who need it to get access to medicinal marijuana, it helped save my life.
the real reason that I'm here about the bankster stooges of the world unite.
they didn't skip a beat in surrendering our children's future to those scheming bankste rest and futures to the zionist controlled media.
did anyone notice that the media pundits all agreed that "something had to be done "?
they are right, they all must be fired including their congressional stooges.
all dr. Ron paul enthusiasts don't waste their vote on any of these evil criminals that the media tells us we have to choose from.
the constitution party, chuck baldwin, the constitution party nominee chuck baldwin, among our approved write in candidates has received the full backing and endorsement of ob/gyn dr. Ron paul, who by the way has been lecturing mr. Barnacke et al about this bail out and why it only makes it all worse forestalling any real change that is necessary to get ahold of this and put our world economy back in order.
so return to the gold standard and -- and saying no to the bankster stooges, two of the keys that of course dr. Paul has been talking about, literally, for decades, and of course our controlled media they pretend he doesn't exist, they ignore the fact that he's running for president a couple of times now, he has a huge following all over the country.
there's a movement called the rally for the republic still going on and we're electing Ron paul enthusiasts all over the country and the world will never be the same thanks to dr. Paul.
so I'm just urging my fellow citizens to pay attention to this bankster stooge bailout and
>> [buzzer sounding] dr. Paul has been talking about this very problem again for decade.
1-800-ron paul for more information.
rallyforthe republic.com.
>> ms. Dick please come forward.
our last speaker is jenny clark.
if ms. Clark would come forward us.
>> good morning, vicki carp, vote rescue.
last week we were asked if we could take a look at or consider the question as to whether Texas election code would allow for what is referred to as hybrid elections where you have two different voting systems or methods such as electronic and paper ballots which of course we would like to have hand counted in public view.
a review from one of the county attorneys indicated that from her perspective state law did not allow that.
but we wanted to come this morning to you and state that in section 123 of the Texas election code there are actually two segments of the code that conflict with each other.
one which indicates that no, you can't have a hybrid election.
the other -- another one that says that yes you can.
I didn't bring the correct version with me this morning.
so we're going to send you that in an e-mail, but there's -- not only is there the authority by Texas law to hold a hybrid election, two types of voting systems or methods, including hand counted paper ballots, but it's being done in Texas right now for at least three counties that we know of, including Williamson county, tarrant county and coddle county, there may be others, those counties are not hand counting paper ballot, they are using scanners to count them.
our proposition, of course, involves hand counting.
we have been in touch with many citizens groups who have indicated an enormous interest in volunteering.
we believe that we could help handle the problem has we keep everything -- that we keep hearing about with lack of election workers to take care of this issue of hand counting paper ballots.
also in section 123.001, b, it states that the Commissioners court is the adopting authority for a voting system in the county and so what we would just like to reiterate to you today is that you are the -- ultimately not only the -- I'm sure that you are -- that I would imagine that you know this, but I want to state it for the record that you are the funding authority, but also that ultimately you are the selecting authority for what voting systems we're using and that we have given you all this information showing that the voting systems violate a number of Texas laws, statutes, that they are easy to hack undetectably, I'm adding a statement here from abbey deloshier, this information is now on the record for you.
we have brought you the evidence that these machines can be hacked undetectably.
the election may seem to be going just fine when the hack could be effecting your very own elections as well as others.
there is still time to introduce paper ballots.
quoting from abbey, she wanted to say she feels, we agree, to not move forward rapidly right now to introduce even a partial use of hand counted paper ballots would be a dereliction of your duties to Travis County taxpayers, we hope that you will condition that we can still do this.
we pull together and get with dana debeauvoir because you are the ultimate authority and we hope that you will take the responsibility because it still to us is extremely illogical to rely on
>> [buzzer sounding] someone who is not a technical expert to give a security assessment on these voting systems. Thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> thank you, ms. Carp.
ms. Dick.
>> good morning, judge and panel, everyone.
I am here to talk about -- about unfair justice and what has happened to me.
in my civil lawsuit.
now, I don't feel that it is fair for anyone to file a -- file a false, alleged charges against you in order to get your final judgment in orders reversed and -- and revised.
I won the lawsuit when I was studying civil law in paralegal.
now, last semester I was in criminal law studying criminal law.
so I got my feet wet in civil law, introduced my own lawsuit and everything and was -- was fortunate enough to be granted my lawsuit.
now I would like to get my feet wet and -- in criminal law and file -- well, not file, but our -- our criminal law instructor gave us a -- an outline, a guideline as to how to file a criminal complaint and how to -- how to, you know, put the information in and everything and the criminal laws that will -- that will support what you are saying.
so I'm going to get my feet wet and all of these false allegations to -- to get my civil lawsuit turned around and changed and everything and I wasn't in court for a second hearing.
I didn't need a second hearing because I won in the first, you know, trial and everything.
why would I need a second trial?
I didn't need to reverse or revise my judge's -- signed judgment and orders for me.
I didn't need that.
it was the defendants who needed to get it revised and reversed so it would be in their favor instead of mine.
so I -- so like I said, I would like to give myself some experience with the criminal law now since I have had a study in it.
and I am studying paralegal.
so this will give me some experience in that, too.
I want to thank you all for this -- listening to me today.
>> thank you.
>> but I am fighting because like I said before, I would love to go shopping.
thank you.
>> thank you, ms. Dick.
jenny clark.
>> good morning, judge.
and commissions.
I still am discouraged that the county supported the purchase of 35 additional e slate machines for early voting.
when we were discussing that item one point that was missioned was the -- missed was the problem with the direction or trend toward the mega voting sites.
with our proposal for hand counted paper ballots it's more practicable and doingable to maintain control of the voting system at a smaller precinct level.
so I just wanted to add that on to another reason why we were not only not trusting the electronic voting machines, but also the mega sites.
I had brought to your attention before a whistle blower lawsuit from william singer.
in that lawsuit on page 30, number 77 c, is an accusation having to do with uncertified software being used in the field.
it seems to me that the county would be interested to know and the citizens would be interested to know if indeed any of the electronic voting machines currently used are uncertified.
from what our computer experts tell us, yes, indeed it would be easy enough to check out.
now, I'm not a computer expert.
I would guess that the court could inquire with the secretary of state examiners to see if that -- if that uncertified software is being used in the field.
perhaps you could employ your own independent computer security expert like dr. Dan wallick from ice university to answer that question.
seems to me that any equipment that's used, that's purchased by the county and used in the field should be -- you should know whether or not this equipment is proper to -- for public use.
so I'm asking if the court could -- could entertain the idea to check that out.
now, our -- our computer geeks tell us that it's easy enough to check out.
like I said I'm not a computer geek so I don't know.
but I would suggest that you inquire with the state about this specific allegation in the lawsuit.
the other -- the other question that I have is our county clerk, dana debeauvoir, submitted a letter to the secretary of state about some of the allegations in the singer lawsuit.
we have not heard back from the secretary of state what those answers to our questions were.
so I'm wondering if that has -- what the status is of -- of that information.
so I don't know if the court knows that or -- who I should communicate to -- with to find the answer to that question.
finally, the other reason that -- that we prefer no electronic machinery at all in our elections system, the computer software can come prehacked, preprogramed from the
>> [buzzer sounding] field.
the reason we don't trust optical scans is on the cover of this book, yet another gift for you all.
witness to a crime, a citizens audit of an american election by richard hays phillips.
robert f.
kennedy junior calls it irrefutable evidence of how the election was stolen in ohio in 2004.
the cover of the book shows a paper ballot that has a sticker over where john kerry's name is and george bush's name is filled in above it.
thousands of pieces of evidence of how the election was stolen in ohio.
the point for this gift --
>> thank you, ms. Clark.
>> why we don't trust optical scans and why we want hand counted paper ballots.
>> thank you.
>> jennifer gale.
>> good morning to the Commissioners court.
>> good morning.
>> judge Sam Biscoe, our chair of the capital metro transportation authority Margaret Gomez, Gerald Daugherty.
we have got a good balance of democrats and republicans.
but half of the Commissioners court is missing.
so clearly we need a larger Commissioners court, especially in a voting meeting.
to 4 h, shout out to 4 h.
hart -- heart, hands and help.
the -- the need for horticulture is very important.
we don't teach that in the county of travis.
and we have another horticulture member here, mr. Reeferseed, we need to make sure that we're taking care of everyone and we're not doing that with our health care system of which that would take care of.
I'm wishing all of the condition dates out there on November 4th good luck.
I hope that you do very well.
and -- and I announce before the Austin city council on Thursday, you are not going to know this because the Austin american-statesman does not say anything, haven't given the Austin chronicle a chance, but that's why you don't know I'm a candidate for mayor of Austin.
because there is no media.
for some candidates.
and that is very painful.
a woman said at elections that you are the final authority on the paper versus electronic balloting.
the people are the final authority.
and the city of Austin can't wait any longer for you to change the balloting here with dana debeauvoir and this Commissioners court.
so we are going to have to take it upon ourselves.
as a candidate for mayor of Austin, I'll going to hire jackie goodman as my executive assistant so she's a good friend, she would be like a girlfriend to you.
so I'm asking, I'm serious.
if you get in there, if I -- if we're elected, then feel free to give her a call.
I will also be communicating like you do every week on jeff ward's show, 4:00 on Tuesday afternoons.
because he's willing to discuss the issues like you are willing to discuss the issues here.
it takes weeks to get to a city council meeting in the city of Austin.
we still don't have single stream recycling in the city of Austin.
despite their saying that we do.
the dumpsters aren't behind our businesses.
and we need to make sure that we have dumpsters for our businesses and make sure that if you leave your recyclables at your home that they will be picked up.
you don't have to have any special container to have your recyclables picked up.
that's ridiculous.
it's time to get out and vote.
>> [buzzer sounding] so I'm asking you to get out and vote.
thank you.
>> thank you.
that does it for citizens communication.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, September 2, 2008 8:37 AM