Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, November 9, 2010,
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next and citizens communication gives residents an opportunity to address the court on any matter not on the agenda for up to three minutes.
gus pena, ronnie reeferseed and morris priest.
>> good morning, judge, congratulations on your re-election, sir.
there was no doubt in our minds, sarah congratulations to.
keep up the good work, remember the veterans.
>> thank you.
>> if you would take off your cap, please, sir.
lord, we lift up the veterans all who are called to order and we live in freedom through the sacrifice our veterans have made.
we thank you for letting us live in this land where only love you and family take presence dense over you and country.
we now enjoy because of the courageous service of veterans.
bless us and bless our land that we always be the land of the free, the home of the brave in jesus' name, amen.
I’d like to say this, this coming Thursday is veterans day, judge and Commissioners.
a lot of us veterans will not have a day off.
a lot of us will be suffering, on the streets, homeless, without jobs.
please remember this.
November 10, united states marine corps birthday.
we were born November 10, 1775.
god bless our united states marine corps.
please show help and support for our veterans in afghanistan and iraq.
our military need our help upon returning to the united states.
they need post-traumatic stress disorder treatment, jobs, comprehensive job training, housing.
we also need to ensure that our female veterans receive the help and assistance they deserve.
sometimes the female convenience have been left out of the loop.
they have certain distinct health care issues.
please show support for female military veterans because they have been in harm's way also.
veteran single moms with kids need help, housing, day care, rental assistance.
please show appreciation and support for female veterans also.
this is my ugly face when I was in boot camp and in may, memorial day, that's when you honor the military that died in service of the country's freedom and democracy.
veterans day is you remember and honor and support all veterans.
okay?
this is a newspaper, it's old.
the first one to die, first lieutenant williamsy.
the last to die alex, I was a class might of his, and johnston high school.
this is him when we were in allen junior high.
alex and my ugly picture.
I wanted to say this, our military veterans need our help, need our support.
this Commissioners court has been very supportive of the veterans issues.
I want to thank you for that, judge.
Commissioner Davis and I spoke a lot about -- I love you all very much because veterans need help.
this is my old album, but judge, Commissioners, thanks for your support for the veterans and got bless our veterans and marine corps and veterans here in Texas.
thank you very much.
>> [applause]
>> thank you, mr. Pena.
mr. Reeferseed is next and would dr. Kim please come forward.
>> thank you, judge.
ronnie reeferseed.
singing love your life.
that's you, kids.
don't rush it.
you'll miss it.
you'll have plenty of time, an opportunity to make big mistakes and victories as you go, believe me.
headline new republican speaker ob-gyn dr. Ron paul delivers our economy with hard medicine to help save our world.
it's happening, people.
while dr. Rand paul wages a votable revolution of fiscal ideas before being sworn in, that feasty founding father among us keeps guiding all with sound conservative economic ideas.
there is a way out.
and dr. Ron paul knows the way as opposed to our delusional bad ben bernanke.
dead wrong so far.
trillions of taxpayer dollars flushed down the toilet and ben bernanke refuses to tell us where it went.
huh?
why isn't bernanke rotting behind bars.
there are over 25% of all u.s.
prisoners only nonviolent hemp, marijuana enthusiasts.
hmmm, is the prison lobby so powerful to override our u.s.
constitution?
no, it's more important to protect and defend the topsoil we all need to survive.
stop felling trees.
the root systems help prevent runoff of top soils to grow more food, help prevent fetal alcohol syndrome, the number one cause of mental retardation worldwide forever.
freedom for farmers is the key.
headlines, david headly, quote, slipped through the cracks, close quote.
this international mega criminal and has already been decided will not be extradited to india.
david headly.
you are going to hear much more about him soon.
no, india should not be rushed on to the heralded u.n.
security council.
now is bad for everyone because they refuse, like israel, to play by the rules, the global rules with the nonnuclear proliferation treaty so I warn you about the evil, illegal discriminate horror weapons drones that we are now financially attack the people of yemen with and iraq and iran and afghanistan and pakistan.
yemen, somalia, thank you, president peace prize.
wake up, people.
they are south killing us all with aspartame, fluoridated water, mono sodium glutamate, et cetera.
defy them.
we can defeat them at infowars.com.
that shows articles, films, 24/7.
Ron paul.org is another ron.
lewrock well, or use the phone.
>> [buzzer sounding]
>> for pure joy.
thank you much.
>> thank you, mr. Reeferseed.
morris priest is next followed by john kim followed by neal carman.
>> thank you, judge, Commissioners, morris priest speaking on my own behalf.
I did think rick perry appreciated the fact that the people stopped telling Texas a&m jokes because you've heard the one about pouring water out of a boot.
put the directions on the heel so that the aggies can get the water out of the boot.
you recallly they just kind of do like this and look at the bottom of the heel instead of turning it over.
it looks like it's raining republicans and rick perry, michael mccall and a whole crew of other key folks did very well in this election even here in tract.
and I know for some of you that's not forny.
I tell you what, I really appreciate all the people that did run.
how about glenn bass?
he did a great job.
and you know, I was thinking today, I was going to bring my sarah palin magazine and write hi mom on my hand, but I didn't want anybody to say order, order in the court.
I tell you, if you are not having fun, you are doing it wrong.
I did want -- I did want to thank patrick mcguiness and david.
I brought these signs because I won't be back for several months and I didn't want ronnie to run out.
and marilyn jackson.
some people are surprised to see how well mike boray did.
and, of course, we had donna campbell and too many others to mention.
but I tell you, going into voting and just seeing, you know, time again, you know, 15 or so democrats on the ballot running unopposed, it's good to get a different set of input.
but mike had an uphill battle with those 21,000 votes that didn't participate in the race, judge.
you know, we had 11,470 libertarians cast a ballot in that race, but 9,577 didn't bother to vote in our county judge's race and that's 21,047 votes that, you know, no one -- these are people that came to the polls and didn't participate.
but I see that people are participating and one thing that didn't surprise me was the low turnout for the libertarian party, and I do think that's -- their days are over and I think that we'll see people coming together and deciding if they want to be a republican or a democrat or a person like myself which I consider to be a nonparty person though it doesn't seem like it.
it's just that that's what I am, a nonparty person.
but transportation issues are going to be addressed finally this legislative session.
>> [buzzer sounding] and I’m glad to see some of those things we haven't been able to address on the local level will be addressed so I won't be back for several months because I’ll be a couple blocks over at the capitol.
thank you.
>> thank you, mr. Priest.
dr. Kim is next and neal carman and professor paul connett will be our third speaker.
good morning.
>> good morning, honorable judge and honorable Commissioners.
congratulations, judge Biscoe, on your great election.
>> thank you.
>> and Commissioner Gomez.
I am here because Texas democracy has been completely broken in my case.
that's the reason why I am here.
I took my case to the district court of Travis County court of appeals and the Texas supreme court.
all of them dismissed this case so-called incremental, intentional discrimination by Austin community college.
I already ask you so my honorable judge asked me to turn in some pages so I did it.
just awaiting for your decision.
now, I am here today.
this is Austin statesman newspaper, Austin newspaper.
the thing that perry says bush's legacy marred by big government.
he blamed washington, d.c.
many.
he need
>> [indiscernible] first before he to blame washington, d.c.
the reason Texas broken democracy has been completely broken.
look at the u.s.
congress and look at the Texas legislature.
what they are doing.
Texas legislature is sleeping, hibernating 590 days out of every two years, 720 days.
what do they do?
if you go to Texas legislature, the door is open, we spend Texas money, Texas house of representatives, the senators are not there.
they are traveling around the world.
what they do their business, they are not there.
so that's why I am here.
tourists are crowded over there.
they open the door and spend money hibernating.
590 days.
look at the u.s.
congress.
they work every day except the holidays and vacation.
look at the -- look at the california congress.
what are they doing.
they are working seven days -- no, I’m sorry, they work for five days except
>> [indiscernible] and holidays, vacation.
and Texas governor rick perry is not supposed to blame washington, d.c.
no, he must take Texas first.
he is now on book tour.
I contacted his office numerous times.
>> [buzzer sounding] I did not receive any recent response from his office.
he said to --
>> [indiscernible] to another office and another office sent me to another office.
sending me door to door like a
>> [indiscernible].
begging for food?
no, I’m not a human being.
>> thank you, dr. Kim.
>> [applause] dr. Carman is next followed by professor connett.
>> thank you, judge Biscoe and Commissioners.
my name is neal carmen and I’m here to invite to you a special lecture tonight by my colleague dr. Paul connett about a new book, the lecture tonight is at huston-tillotson university in the king seabrook chapel at 7:00.
professor connett is a professor emeritus of environmental chemistry and toxicology and he and two other leading scientists have written a new book called the case against fluoride, how hazardous waste ended up in drinking water.
this is a very timely topic because about 180 million americans including here in Austin, Travis County, unfortunately are exposed to fluoride in the drinking water.
and also there's a new report in 2006 by the national research council with 12 top scientists who looked at just the toxicity and health effects, environmental effects of fluoride.
so I strongly encourage you or the aids or the public to attend this lecture tonight.
I think it will be very informative.
it will be an opportunity to ask dr. Connett questions.
he's been researching this topic for -- for 14 years and there's a great deal of new science that we have today because after all this product that is put into the water supply comes -- it's largely a hazardous waste, toxic industrial waste by-product.
it's not a pure pharmaceutical grade material, it's an industrial waste by practiced that has other materials besides the fluoride.
there's lead, mercury and other impurities in it.
so we need to take a very critical look at what we're doing.
and you know for decades we added lead to the gasoline.
that was a bad idea.
we had, you know, asbestos.
we found out that was a bad idea.
we had pcb or polychlorinated bifennel in electric transformers so we found out in the last century there were a lot of things we did that were bad public policies and my view this will soon be relegated to another one of the bad public policies of the 20th century and so we want to inform you and the public why the science is clearly showing that this is unnecessary and potentially even harmful.
economically it's a wasteful practice.
in a nutshell I would say this is a way that the one sector, for example, the phosphate fertilizer industry that has this fluoride industrial waste is able to sell it through a loophole in the federal laws-
>> [buzzer sounding] -- and put it in the drinking water.
here's dr. Paul connett.
>> thank you.
>> thank you very much, Commissioners, for letting me speak here.
I come from a long way away.
I live in northern new york.
I was born in england and spent half my life in england, half in the united states.
I couldn't possibly in three minutes persuade you that fluoridation is a bad idea, but I have written on book on the subject with two other scientists.
I also gave testimony to this national research council report that was published in 2006, which should have ended fluoridation right there.
they recommended that the safe drinking water standard, the e.p.a.
safe drinking water standard should be lowered and after four and a half years the e.p.a.
has not performed a risk assessment to do this which I think clearly indicates the new standards should be less than one part per million which is the level we floor date but that would cause huge political uproar in the department of health and human services that has promoted this practice for so long.
another time when this practice should have ended is when the centers for disease control, the big promoter for fluoridation, or rather the oral health division, about 30 dentists, admitted the major benefit of fluoride is topical and therefore we really don't need to swallow it and expose every tissue in the body to a toxic substance.
or to people that don't want it by putting it in their drinking water.
I would like to draw your attention to this 28-minute videotape which has 15 scientists including myself explaining why fluoridation is a bad idea.
one is a nobel prize winner, three authors of this national research council report, two are former e.p.a.
employees, and there are also dentists there that once upon a time were pro-fluoridation.
what I would like you to consider is the following.
it's not really controversial because both proponents and opponents agree on this.
we all agree that babies less than one year of age should not get fluoridated water.
in other words, parents need to be warned not to use tap water, fluoridated tap water in Austin and the local area to make up formula.
why is that?
well, the answer is because the risk of dental fluorosis is greatest in that first year.
there's a report out from the centers for disease control that says 41% of american children from 9 to 15 have this condition of dental fluorosis.
my concerns are greater than that.
when the baby is born, the blood brain barrier is not fully formed.
it's not formed until they are about six months of age.
during that first six months, the fluoride can get into the brain.
we now have 23 studies from around the world which indicate this lowering of iq associated to exposure to fluoride, even at lower levels.
>> [buzzer sounding] in my view this is not the time that a baby should be exposed to fluoride at 250 times the level that would -- that occurs in mother's milk.
250 times.
that's the difference between the levels in breast milk and the levels in fluoridated water.
thank you very much for listening.
>> thank you, professor.
>> those are very alarming data that's been revealed today and even though we are not allowed to exchange conversation within the format of citizen communication, I feel that we should do something as a governmental body.
I don't know what that is at this time, but I would like to look forward to working with you and looking to see what we can do with the -- those suppliers, they call them ccns, and we've worked hard over the years when we talked about even the lead ingested by infants, how that could also cause disturbances as far as learning capacity or learning ability when you ingest lead by children.
so what I’m hearing here is fluoride, another type of situation that may I guess have been proven that it poses a problem through drinking water.
so the city of Austin, ccn, lcra and many other ccns that we have in the water that supply water to our residents, I think, I don't know how you are pursuing it but it's something that maybe needs to be looked at by this court.
I don't know how we can do that, but I would like to venture into that in the future.
>> Commissioner Davis, identify just say we have actually been speaking to the Austin city council and the Austin environmental board a year ago recommended that the city council take a critical investigation into the new scientific evidence about fluoride because they are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to put it in the water.
so far the city council has not moved on that so one thing the Commissioners court could do in the future is to look at maybe a resolution or something encouraging the Austin city council to take a critical look at this.
>> [applause]
>> thank you.
>> and the simplest thing to do right now while we're waiting for investigation is to put a warning in the water bill, in the water bill to parents saying that they shouldn't use the tap water to make formula.
that would be the simplest thing to do right now.
>> the lecture tonight is open to the public free of charge.
>> free of charge.
>> thank you.
would the following four individuals come forward:.
>> I will be right back.
I have a call about my daughter who is sick but I don't want to miss your presentation.
>> we're not sure of the order of the names you just read.
>> any order is fine.
>> good morning, I’m a 35-year resident of shady hollow.
I’ve washed brodie lane go from a country road to a rural subdivision street and now to a heavy traveled arterial.
my 40-year career was a highway executive with the federal highway administration.
the last 16 years of that was here as division administrator for the Texas division.
in my experience, I’ve never seen such a heavy congested road such as brodie is that there wasn't somewhere along the line some positive efforts made to alleviate that.
so we know there is a solution.
state highway 45 southwest.
and we urge you people to support that.
>> thank you.
>> bob goodwin.
I’ve been asked to read a statement by one of the neighborhood residents, millie thomason.
she is elderlyly, she doesn't like to go out during rush hour which would be from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m.
in the morning and for a good two hours in the afternoon.
brodie is just choked full of traffic.
at best it might be moving short periods or bursts for 20, 30 miles an hour, but for the vast majority it's crawling bumper to bumper.
she says she has lived in shady hollow and spends up to 15 minutes just trying to get out on to brodie.
many times turning north, then turning left into a side street and then waiting to get back on just to come into town.
if you have ever driven on brodie during traffic times, you will understand what I am talking about.
sometimes a caring person will let me in, but most it's when traffic is stopped at a light.
we need action.
please support s.h.
45.
I have lived in shady hollow 30 years and cannot believe how bad the traffic has gotten.
I’ve lived there for 19 years.
the last nine years have been phenominal at the traffic buildup.
but if you look at the density, the population, the number of homes that have been built south of us, it's not hard to understand the traffic.
in hays county it's the second arterial, major arterial coming in from the entire southern quadrant of the city.
it's i-35 or it's brodie lane.
people are going to drive five minutes to go up manchaca and down slaughter is just ridiculous at best of an idea.
anyone who lives in hays county laughs at that.
they take the road that's closest.
most people will.
they will take the road the shortest, even if it's the most busy because that's how you are getting somewhere.
look at mopac.
mopac is full every day.
we don't run over to i-30.
in fact, i-30 turns out to be a boondoggle.
that was supposed to get semis off 35.
that doesn't seem to be the case.
that's my statement.
I support s.h.
45.
we voted as a populace for the bonds to support the building of that nearly 20 years ago.
it's been voted on again since that time in the affirmative and nothing has been done, so I support -- ask you all to please support that bypass.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> hi, I’m pam bagget.
what I’m passing out is a photo of the most recent accident I recall seeing on brodie.
and I was motivated to bring this picture because of the email that our neighbor sent about waiting for the kindness of strangers to allow her out on to the road.
well, that's what happened in this accident.
someone -- one lane of traffic stopped and ushered him in and because of a blind corner he thought -- he didn't see the other side coming and it was a head on.
the passenger in the other vehicle was a four-year-old in a van.
fortunately his family did comply with the booster seat and seat belt issue because all he had was pretty significant bruising and abrasion on his neck.
but people cannot count on the kindness of strangers and so we are counting on the kindness of our elected officials to get s.h.
45 built.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> hi, my name is rick perkins.
I live in the county and thank knew advance for listening to my comments.
as you are aware, the city of Austin has embarked on a comprehensive plan update which has been given the moniker imagine Austin.
I have attended five or six of these meetings in 2010.
I’d like to share a few points of the plan options with you.
I know you guys are extremely busy and maybe you haven't had a chance to attend many of the meetings.
but city planners have told us in 20 years the population of greater Austin will double to more than 2 million people.
that's a lot of people for what we've got now.
the imagine Austin plan will attempt to provide the best planning to accommodate these people without hopefully damaging our quality of life in Austin.
I passed out to you a copy of one of their documents, and this is, you know, everybody can get these, it's online and I have many extra copies.
what's interesting about this document is that they've actually had all their planners go through and come up with four scenarios for our future.
if you all have had a chance to look at these, I looked at them closely and I’ve discovered there are interesting aspects to knees scenarios.
for example, three of the four scenarios show a completed s.h.
45 southwest.
two of the four scenarios show a completed s.h.
45 southwest plus a connection to i-35.
so scenario d, which on the back of this page here gives you a summary of all these different properties of the different scenarios, scenario d, which is the most impact and environmentally friendly, if that happens to be your motivation, shows the completed southern loop of s.h.
45 to mopac and it's estimated to reduce daily traffic miles -- daily traffic miles by 1.9 million miles over our current situation.
scenario d also reduces smog by 2.6 thousand tons and estimated to reduce daily congestion by 155 hours each day.
so we would really like the Commissioners court to be on page with imagine Austin because they are looking at part of the e.t.j.
which encompasses all of Travis County, some of hays, some of Williamson.
the people are here and more are coming.
I’m pretty shower about that.
and so we would please like to you support the completion of s.h.
45.
not just s.h.
45 southwest, but the connection to i-35.
thank you.
>> thank you very much.
those are the ten residents who signed in to speak under citizens communication today.
instead of the consent items next, why don't we take the resolutions.
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, November 9, 2010 11:00 PM
