Sleepless in Midland

Newly rebuilt Fire Station #5 on the verge of opening -- Midland, Texas

The new station looks to be ready for opening within days.

It was two years ago that a few city government emissaries held a dog and pony show for the proposed station. This PDF  is a scan of the brochure they handed out to the citizens who attended. There are seven bed rooms, including one which is ADA appropriate, and there are four bath rooms, including one which is ADA appropriate -- all on the second floor. There's a stair well but no elevator.

Incidentally, there's a handicap parking spot in the parking lot. One has to wonder if the firefighter training class has to accommodate disabled students and how many disabled firefighters are on the staff. Not that we have any problem with it. But hopefully the handicapped firefighter can ascend the stairs without assistance. Getting down should be no problem -- read on.

Now, two years later, the new station appears at the location where the old station once was.

The photo on the right shows the most exiting feature of the station -- a slide for firefighters to easily descend from the second floor. It looks like loads of fun!

Although there are only two floors, the building is as tall as a three story office building. And the windows on the top floor look out over the neighborhood and down into the neighbors' yards, perhaps as a fire lookout post so the firefighters can watch for smoke.

Anyway, the entire cost was in the low seven figures. But the project came about when the city government had money to burn due to the booming economy. The city burned through it. But now the local economy is struggling, inflation is rising, and the city government wants to raise taxes.

Ironic isn't it? When times are good, they spend like there's no tomorrow. When time are bad, they raise taxes because, gosh darn it, the tax revenue just isn't high enough to keep living like there's no tomorrow.

Maybe they can raise money by charging a fee for citizens who want to slide down that slide.

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4:03 PM 5/19/2021

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Snow Day!

This morning in Midland, Texas, we woke up to a beautiful white landscape.

These photos were taken a few hours apart -- the one with the ruler followed a secondary snow storm.

In case the reading isn't visible, the top of the snow is roughly seven inches above the ground.

Needless to say, the snow has basically shut down the town.

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2:33 PM 2/5/2020

half billion dollar school bond in Midland hangs by few votes

That proposed school bond was the biggest item on the November ballot. When the results were announced, it won by a hair. But then more votes were counted, and it lost by a hair. Then a box of uncounted votes turned up. Now no one knows who won.

It's a huge embarrassment for Midland, Texas, which typically only gets non-regional news coverage on energy industry developments.

The pro-bond camp say the school district needs new buildings. The anti-bond camp says taxpayers don't need another half billion dollars worth of debt hanging over their heads.

And right now, we don't know which side will prevail. If only those who insist on more and bigger government could pay attention to how it actually operates.

Related:
Midland County officials just found a missing ballot box. It may change the result of a $569 million bond election
Judge appointed to election contest
State Law: Cost is No Concern for Texas School Bonds.

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2:26 PM 12/25/2019

The way Dallas Morning News sees West Texas

A left leaning newspaper in a left leaning metro area looks beyond it's boundaries and sees a cartoon. My word processor counted 1,013 words in this article, so if the old saw about words and pictures is close to accurate, that's worth one picture.

In Wonder whatever happened to traditional conservative values? Look no further than West Texas the picture Roy R. Reynolds draws if of a high school:

If West Texas were a high school, Lubbock would be the star athlete and Amarillo the class favorite. El Paso would be out behind the gym, smoking cigarettes with more dangerous friends named "Juarez" and "New Mexico."

Midland and Odessa would be the rich kids running student council.

How about the matter of perspective?

The matter of perspective is why West Texas cities, towns, farms and ranches need to band together to create a political force in the state. The state population is 29 million and growing rapidly, mostly in the urban centers on the eastern side of the state.

Actually, if one looks closely at the local government entities in Midland one sees a bluish hue. "Tax and spend" is the unspoken mantra. And with the annual high income stream from sales tax revenue -- which always seems to surprise them -- their main problem is how to spend the money.

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3:14 PM 7/29/2019

Out with the old -- city of Midland, Texas, loves to ditch the old and build anew

Local tax collecting entities are flush with tax revenue due to the high property taxes and the windfall from sales taxes during the boom time. It's almost as though they are in search of ways to spend all that money.

Building fire stations don't usually get much objection, and the plan for a new Fire Station #5 was presented to interested people the other night in a "town hall" talk and slide show. The old station will be demolished and $4 million building will take its place.

But here's the way it rubbed me the wrong way. There was much talk about how deteriorated the old structure had become. Well, here's a secret that must have been well kept from the decision makers in the city government. Old buildings need upkeep. If the owner doesn't make repairs, the building will eventually deteriorate. The houses in the neighborhood of Station #5 are as old or older than the fire station. Some are in disrepair, and those that got the needed repairs over time are in good shape. It's a shame that no one deemed that old fire station was worth repairing when they were needed. But when you're flush with cash, why not junk it and build a new one? We'll mollify the complainers with that glistening new building.

P.S. One of the first things they plan to do is have the asbestos from the old building removed. We've probably all seen asbestos removal workers decked out in space suits. But what about all those people living down wind from that site? Where are their space suits?

P.P.S. Here's a PDF scan of the Fire station 5 brochure.  (Note the handicap parking spot in the firefighters' parking lot.  Not sure what to make of that.)

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3:11 PM 5/24/2019

Big Texas property tax reform bill won't reduce taxes but it might slow the increase

Governor Abbott campaigned on property tax reform and no doubt got a lot of votes just for that. But now that the bill is approaching his desk it's looking like the give and take between the parties wanting higher taxes or lower taxes has resulted in a compromise.

Dallas Morning News provides some detail at Texas House passes massive property tax overhaul, moving one step closer to Gov. Abbott’s desk. Their summary follows:

Here's the latest version of Senate Bill 2 as passed by the House:

3.5% revenue cap on local governments. This means cities and counties can collect only up to 3.5% more in property tax revenue than they did the previous year. The original versions of the House and Senate bills had a 2.5% cap. Local governments can exceed the cap if they hold an election and voters approve the additional tax hike. Currently, they can increase property tax revenue by up to 8 percent a year without the threat of an election.

Schools districts included under the cap, but only "symbolically." In the original versions of the bills, school districts were also included under the 2.5% cap -- which the House Ways & Means Committee changed to 2% last week. Burrows said that legally, the cap doesn't hold water in their bill and has to be addressed in school funding legislation. The Senate's version of the school funding bill includes a 2.5% cap. School districts make up more than half of a property owner's tax bill.

No exemption for rural and small districts. The original version of the bill excluded small cities and counties that collect less than $15 million in revenue. This was an important carrot for rural Republicans in the Senate to get on board. But the House committee cut the exemption. "All property tax bills big or small deserve property tax reform," Burrows said.

Exemptions for hospital and community college districts. The cap as originally written applied to special taxing districts, which include utility districts, community colleges and hospital districts. House Ways and Means carved out the latter two because of a concern that community college tuition would increase and because hospitals endure high medical inflation costs, Burrows said.

Passage of property tax overhaul tied to passage of House school funding bill. The House's No. 1 priority this session is a massive $9 billion bill that increases funding for schools, gives teachers raises and rewrites how school districts receive money. The bill ensures that if the school funding bill does not pass, the property tax bill doesn't go into effect. Burrows said this is significant because the school bill also includes property tax relief, and capping cities and counties alone isn't enough to make a meaningful impact.

Every year, our own city council here in Midland, Texas, puts an item in its budget for lobbying. It would be interesting to see how much money various municipalities spent lobbying to keep taxes high.

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10:46 AM 5/1/2019

Oil companies give natural gas away -- wsj

The Wall Street Journal gives us this headline in the print edition: "Companies Give Away Shale Gas In Texas." Online, it's In Booming Oilfield, Natural Gas Can Be Free. (Alternate link.) Here's a three paragraph excerpt that sums it up:

American energy companies have spent billions of dollars in the past decade exploring for natural gas. But in parts of Texas and New Mexico, there is now so much of it that it is sometimes worthless. Some companies have even had to pay buyers to take it away.

Shale drillers in the Permian Basin are producing vast amounts of gas as a byproduct of prospecting for oil. But there aren’t enough pipelines to take all the gas to market, causing some of it to become landlocked, and sending local prices into free fall.

Gas prices in parts of the prolific region hovered near zero last month and some trades went negative, to as low as a negative 25 cents per million British thermal units, according to S&P Global Platts. The price-reporting agency said it was the first time on record that gas traded for less than zero at the Waha hub in West Texas. While prices have since ticked up, averaging $1.68 per million British thermal units for the four weeks through Dec. 21, that is still 40% of the $4.20 per million British thermal units that gas has fetched in that time at the main U.S. benchmark, Henry Hub in Louisiana.

Wow! Paying customers to take the product -- that's no way to make a buck.

If only the utility companies that use natural gas to produce energy would pass their savings on to their customers.

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2:35 PM 12/29/2018

County Commissioners love playing Santa Clause with taxpayer money

Stewart Doreen is really doing a bang-up job of keeping readers of the Midland Reporter-Telegram informed about the Midland County Commissioners spending of taxpayer money. In the latest he tells us this Proposed budget includes 9 percent raise for commissioners.

The Midland Texas County government is awash with money from tax inflow. And who can forget how surprised they were that a booming economy would cause a big jump in sales tax revenue? If only taxpayers could be that lucky.

So the county has money burning a hole in its pocket even after giving away a whopping $12 million to other taxing entities. For a refresher about that, see County answers call for collaboration. And see previously at this blog: Taxpayers are ignored in Midland County wealth distribution scheme.

If we are lucky, the winner of the County Judge slot in November will do some belt tightening. Although, it's hard to be optimistic since he will have to battle an entrenched entitlement minded commissioners court.

In any event, kudos to Stewart Doreen for maintaining a newsman's tradition of being a government watchdog. There were times when it appeared as if he were serving as a lapdog for the city council, so it's nice to see him dig into the county commissioners.

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9:02 AM 8/22/2018

Fox Friday 8-10-2018 - Momma and pup?

Welcome to Fox Friday. This series is a collection of photos of urban foxes in the city of Midland, Texas.

This being late summer, any offspring produced this year will be young but almost grown. So take a look at these:

 
Notice the bumps on the underside of the one on the left. Could this be a post pregnant female? The other one could be an offspring. But all this is speculation.

Anyway, it ain't National Geographic. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the fox photos as much as I do.

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5:08 AM 8/10/2018

Taxpayers are ignored in Midland County wealth distribution scheme

Elected officials revel in favorable media coverage, and the Midland County Judge Mike Bradford must certainly be feeling good.

His term in office is about to end, and perhaps as a going away shot he has orchestrated a huge transfer of funds from the county to various other taxing entities and foundations. The county is awash with cash due to boom-time sales tax collections which they were shocked, shocked, to discover.

For background see two consecutive front pagers from the Midland Reporter-Telegram:
County answers call for collaboration, subhead: "Commissioners to divide $11.86 million from sales tax collection among 10 local entities," and
COLUMN: Commissioners add another chapter to Midland’s philanthropic story.

For those of us who are fiscally conservative the whole thing strikes us as unseemly. Taxpayers can decide best what to do with their money, not elected office holders. Unfortunately, there is almost never any serious mention of lowering local taxes, only of how much to raise them.

Drain the swamp.

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8:01 AM 8/5/2018

Once again local taxing entity expresses surprise at high sales tax revenue

Local taxing entities plug a number into their annual budgets to account for an expected revenue from sales taxes. And they are always shocked, shocked, that too much money came in. If only all of us could get such surprises on such a regular basis.

The latest example comes to us by way of Stewart Doreen at MRT.com in County breaks record for sales tax collected in fiscal year.

The only problem the taxing entities have is deciding what to buy with all that money. They never give any thought to giving it back to the tax payers.

Fortunately at the Midland County level, the winner of the Republican Party runoff for County Judge, Terry Johnson, having been the one least favored by the establishment, is likely to win the position in November. Those of us on the paying side of the tax equation have high hopes for the future.

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2:32 PM 7/13/2018

XCOR goes belly up without ever getting off the ground

According to the morning paper, XCOR filed chapter 7. And only now is the Midland Development Corporation scrambling to perfect a security interest in personal property that the MDC financed. Here are the sad facts from said article:

Hilliard told the Reporter-Telegram on Thursday that the economic development group is attempting to get a collateralized security interest in XCOR. The MDC took the step of filing uniform commercial code (UCC) financing statements with the Texas, California and Florida secretaries of state Wednesday.

Per the MDC’s contract with XCOR, incentive money was paid upfront without collateral. The deal predates Hilliard’s involvement with the MDC.

Perfecting a security interest is one of the FIRST things you do, not the LAST.

Oh, what the hell. Midland got lots of good, nationwide publicity when they announced the deal. There was no steak, but there was lot's of sizzle. As I've said in this blog in the past, that was the payoff. Too bad that was all we got, but it will have to do.

Oh yeah, I guess I should mention this group of winners. The lawyers involved in this fiasco will make out OK. So not everyone lost.

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8:47 AM 11/11/2017

Local government debt exceeds $1.2B -- politicians giddy with glee

A majority of voters in Midland, Texas, voted in favor of a $100 million bond issue for road and water line repairs on 11/7/17. While a sales tax might have been a better approach for raising the money, proponents of the bond convinced voters to pile a huge load of debt onto the backs of property owners.

The photo on the right of the ecstatic council member was on the front page of the print edition of the Midland Reporter-Telegram. I titled it Bond Glee.

Meanwhile, In case anyone is interested in the local government debt, here's a table based on the reports at Bond Review Board Database Search Texas Local Governments FY 2016:

Entity	Principal	Interest	Total
City	$119,420,000	$52,553,031	$171,973,031
College	$36,965,000	$6,715,591	$43,680,591
County	$17,665,000	$4,132,534	$21,797,534
Hospital	$104,115,000	$63,086,894	$167,201,894
MISD	$224,020,000	$136,130,051	$360,150,051
Water District	$226,331,160	$246,486,027	$472,817,187
Totals	$728,516,160	$509,104,128	$1,237,620,288

A few years ago Jason Moore told the Midland city council that the bond debt for the local taxing entities was approaching a billion dollars. The council members scoffed at that. But here we are with a debt as of last year at $1.2 billion. So add another $100 million -- who cares?

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10:58 AM 11/9/2017</p

P.S. I've been wrestling with whether to continue subscribing to the pricey print edition of the Midland Reporter Telegram. Then something like that photo comes along and it makes the whole thing worthwhile.

Letters to morning paper editor propose better idea than road bond -- Midland, Texas

Voters in Midland, Texas, are facing an election next week where a $100,000,000 road bond will be voted up or down. See JPG on the right for the propositions. Elected council members tell us they must have it, and there's a well financed movement underway to get out the "yes" votes.

But wait a sec. These two letters to the editor in the 10-22-17 Midland Reporter Telegram -- from Rubin B. Reavis and Charles R. Sessions -- suggested a sales tax as a viable alternative to the bond. See below:

Not a bad suggestion. The idea isn't getting a lot of play, but it seems like a workable alternative.

Editor's note: The government is like Harvey Weinstein. Regular citizens are like Weinstein's girls. Resist and he can make life miserable for you. - Robo-ed.
Hey, that's pretty good! You really earned your pay this time! - Sleepless.
Pay! Ha! What pay! - Robo-ed.

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2:04 PM 10/28/2017

Randy Ball's MIG 17 at AirSho 2017

AirSho 2017 at the Midland, Texas, airport featured Randy Ball and a genuine MIG 17, and he put on quite a show. Here are some pics from yesterday's performance:

Flying upside down.

Low flyby over runway.

The afterburners glow.

Click for a video taken at some other airfield.

Charles Terry Construction Company - Day 68 and still waiting

I wasn't going to say anything, but I ran into someone else who was having the same problem with the same roofing contractor. Seems the company haven't mastered the art of the deal yet. Instead of explaining the delay, they simply ignore the customers waiting for service.

The category 1 hurricane force winds that hit Midland, Texas, in late June ripped the shingles off my tool shed. I phoned Charles Terry Construction Company and asked if they could repair the roof. A very nice fellow named Robert came out a few days later, provided an estimate and a contract, and he promised that someone would come over in the next few days to fix it. That was over two months ago.

Maybe this has something to do with it: Texas home builders relying on immigrant labor feel effects of immigrant crackdown, to wit:

"Half of the workers in construction in Texas are undocumented," Marek said. "We do hear that there are a lot of undocumented workers that are leaving the state, going to other states that don't have the anti-immigrant sentiment and many of them are going back to Mexico."

Meanwhile, Charles Terry Construction Company boasted in a full page ad in the Midland Reporter-Telegram that they were voted Midland's Favorite Roofing company in a recent online poll. Apparently, they are so good that they can ignore new customers. That's it on the right.

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1:00 PM 9/6/2017

Drop in illegal immigration hurting local construction companies

News reports tell us that there has been a big drop in illegal immigration. The presumptions is that President Trump's highly public focus on the issue is deterring illegal crossings.

There has been a real practical effect -- companies that relied on illegals for labor are short staffed.

Case in point: Right here in Midland, Texas, it's hard to find a roofer. When the hurricane force wind hit this desert town in June there was a lot of damage to houses. The shingles on my tool shed were ripped off. An employee of Charles Terry Construction Company came out right away and provided an estimate along with a promise of repair within the next couple of days.

After three weeks I called to find out why they didn't perform as promised. The lady who took the call said someone would call in the following week to establish a time for the work. Two weeks later, still no call. If they would just explain their problem it would go a long way to alleviate the tension and satiate their customers. Instead, the poor ladies who answer the phone simply give false promises. Not a good way to run a business.

Hopefully, businesses in this bind can figure out a way to operate in the new environment of minimal illegal entries. The bracero program is supposed to have worked. Maybe it should be tried again.

XCOR not looking so good -- the cargo cult lesson should have been a warning, not a blueprint

The Midland Development Board dumped a load of money into the rosy idea of Midland, Texas, having a space port from which Xcor could carry paying passengers on short trips into space. That dreamy outlook wasn't shared by many of the taxpayers whose money was used to fund the company's plan.

Now we are learning that the whole thing may be falling apart. See XCOR Aerospace lays off remaining employees.

"Build it and they will come," was a line from a movie. And rather than accepting it as a statement of fact, it probably should be categorized with the cargo cults whereby primitive tribes built rudimentary airports to draw in airliners.

Meanwhile, SpaceX is the company to watch with their ingenious plan to reuse rockets to increase the frequency of launches.

Previously at this blog:
Would you buy stock in XCOR?
With the sizzle XCOR provided, Midland could probably live without the steak
Midland Development Corporation should watch Shark Tank
Midland Space Port -- "build it and they will come" sounds so much better than "cargo cult".

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1:25 PM 7/11/2017

Fox Friday is back with rare pic of nocturnal fox in daylight

The other day one of the neighborhood foxes came by for an early morning snack -- in the daylight!

That's rare in these parts as the foxes usually roam the area while the two legged creatures slumber. But for some reason this fox -- I call him Scrawny Tail -- came along after sunup. That reminds me. I need to keep a water container filled out there. With temps exceeding 100ºF, a fox can get thirsty.

High winds, downed trees, and dumpster hogs

Friday evening high winds hit Midland, Texas, and it felt and sounded like a hurricane. One report said wind speeds hit 74 mph which would qualify as a Category 1 hurricane were we not in the middle of the desert. So the next day the damage became visible as the sun came up -- tree limbs everywhere.

The city has a recycling area where citizens can dispose of downed limbs, and so many took advantage of it that there was a mini-traffic jam when I was there. But bless 'em, they were doing the right thing, unlike the dumpster hogs who filled up the neighborhood dumpsters with their limbs.

The city frowns on that. But frown is all they do. There's really no way to police the dumpsters without surveillance cameras, and that's a taxpayer expense no one wants to bear, never mind the intrusiveness. But without enforcement the hogs win the day.

Hospice of Midland -- we honor veterans

Although you wouldn't know it from their website, Hospice of Midland in Midland, Texas, has a very active We Honor Veterans program.

Any veterans out there who want to help some of those guys and gals who fought for our country and are now fighting for their lives could be of great service to them by becoming a volunteer with Hospice of Midland.

The photo of the flag display was taken on Memorial Day, 2017, at the front of the Hospice of Midland Building.

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1:50 PM 5/29/2017

Midland Mayor Morales complained about low voter turnout on tax vote -- if he really wanted a large turnout he would have put the issue on the November ballot

Just about everyone assumed that the reason the Midland, Texas, mayor and city council put their wished-for tax on the May ballot instead of the November ballot was to get out their loyalists to outnumber the "no" votes that they feared would come out to vote in the presidential election.

So when the Mayor Jerry Morales complained about the low turnout on May 6 we are left wondering to whom was he referring.

The issue was whether to extend the 1/4 cent sales tax for a dozen years or so. The original tax was approved by voters long ago to fund a sports complex. The complex was built and has been operating for quite some time. The promise was that the tax would eventually expire. But it's hard for tax collectors to give up on a revenue source, so as the expiration date approached, they sought to keep it going.

On May 6 the voters said "no."

Now the people who were elected to redistribute tax revenue are contemplating a property tax hike.

Local property taxes go up each year, and the excuse for the past few years is that population growth means they have to spend more money. Well, maybe. But that argument ignores the fact that the people moving in pay taxes, too, so they are basically self funding. But no, the taxes for all of us keep going up.

So the race is on between those who want to raise property taxes and those who support Governor Gregg Abbott's drive to require voter approval of property tax hikes. Go Governor Abbott!

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2:29 PM 5/8/2017

Eye opener in the morning paper -- businesses kicked in 100 grand to get tax hike on local residents

The voters in Midland, Texas, weren't sold. The effort failed to get enough votes for the tax hike to pass. But this effort by these companies to get it passed was an eye opener. See Stewart Doreen's article at Oil companies donate $100,000 for tax ratification election.

To it's credit, the Midland Reporter Telegram reported a list of recipients of this money which included the newspaper itself. They came out all right on the deal. So did former city councilman and mayoral candidate John James' company.

Our ATM burglars are so dumb they can't skim, have to resort to brute force to hack ATM customers

First, let's note that it's wrong to steal, whether it's hi-tech hacking of ATMs or brute force. The return on investment is poor, and the retirement plan is dismal. That said, let's see what they are up to.

Not too long ago there was a rash of ATM burglaries involving skimming. At least that involved a little cunning, intelligence, and tech savvy. But the act has devolved to pure brute force. Picture that graphic of the stooped over Neanderthal progressing to the erect homo sapiens. But the image for this particular criminal endeavor went the opposite direction.

Explained here, via city of Midland, Texas, media release.

Suspect stealing withdrawn money from parked vehicles in Midland, Odessa

Midland and Odessa Police Departments are warning residents of a recent motor vehicle burglary trend that has reached the Permian Basin.

Officers have received several reports of motor vehicle burglaries that occur shortly after the victims visit a bank. Detectives believe that the suspect is waiting in his vehicle in the parking lots of various banks and following victims who have just withdrawn money to their next destination. If they park at another business, the suspect burglarizes their vehicle in the parking lot and attempts to steal the money envelope. The suspect has not followed the victim back to his or her residence in any of the reported burglaries so far.

The male suspect reportedly drives a black Kia Sportage, which is a compact SUV. The banks that have been targeted so far have been located along major roadways in both Midland and Odessa. Similar crimes have been reported in the Dallas and Houston areas previous to the trend reaching Midland.

Residents visiting a bank are encouraged to place any money envelopes out of sight and to always keep the envelope and money with them at all times. Unlike the ongoing trend of criminals burglarizing unlocked vehicles, this suspect is brazenly breaking car windows in the middle of the day to reach the envelope. Residents walking back to their vehicles after withdrawing money should always be aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious activity.

If you have any information on the suspect in this case, please contact the Midland Crime Stoppers at 432-694-TIPS(8477) or Odessa Crime Stoppers at 432-333-TIPS(8477).

That's a very conspicuous criminal endeavor. Migrating from town to town, constantly on the move, the public on the lookout -- it's hard to imagine that won't get caught soon. Then they'll graduate to the Texas Department of Corrections where they'll be schooled on new opportunities.

Updated 1/19/17 -- New media release tells us the police have arrested two individuals and are looking for a third.

This Thanksgiving let's thank the garbage men of America

That's not a joke. We generate tons of garbage, and hauling it away is a dirty job. But someone has to do it.

I know. I worked that job one summer during high school. And back in the day, a garbage man rode the side of a truck, lifted, and dumped trash cans into the truck by hand. Today, mechanical arms do the heavy lifting as the truck rolls down the alley, picks up a dumpster and empties it in the truck. The typical garbage man sits in the truck all day. But that's OK. He still has to endure the tedium, and he still has to maintain the schedule. Then there's the health risk of sitting all day that we hear about.

So as we approach the Thanksgiving holidays there will be a lag in the garbage pick-up, and those neighborhoods where dumpster hogs like to load up the dumpsters with empty boxes and tree limbs will experience overflowing trash bins. So let's give thanks to those people who haul it off, the garbage men.

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Meanwhile, here in Midland, Texas, Mayor Morales recently told an audience that the vehicle manufacturers no longer make the side loading garbage trucks currently in use in the city. Eventually, the city will begin purchasing front loading trucks.

Then he dropped the bomb shell: Neighborhood dumpsters will have to be moved from the alleys to the front. Whoa! They recently went all out to get an ordinance against parking cars in yards. Now they want to put garbage dumpsters in front yards. Let the irony begin.

Who is stealing the Trump yard signs in Midland Texas?

Observant commuters saw something different on their route Monday morning. Where there were Trump yard signs last week, now nothing.

Some miscreants with low level ambition -- whether drug or alcohol induced -- had an idea. But creativity was lacking*. All they could come up with was stealing Trump/Pence signs. It's as if they thought that people with jobs driving to work without seeing Trump signs would be inspired to vote for Hillary Clinton. Poor creatures. There are your deplorables, Hillary.

But to be fair, even Shepard Fairey is uninspired by Hillary Clinton.

*For more creative misbehavior, see the Sabo's imaginative graffiti.

Kudos to two councilmen who opposed higher local taxes

What a difference a few years make. Back before the Tea Party movement was stomped into dust there was a group of folks who went before the Midland, Texas, city council to plead with them not to raise taxes again. The annual tax hike here is a ritual as regular as the four seasons.

But that was a time shortly after Barack Obama was first elected president, and a a more powerful movement swept government entities as they imagined voters were eager to fatten government coffers across the nation.

The local city council was about as eager to hear tax protests as bin Laden would have been to listen to a Christian sermon. The tax hike was voted in unanimously. And those of us who spoke before the council learned our civic lesson and were put in our place.

Fast forward to today. Stewart Doreen tells us in the morning paper that two city council members voted "No" this time. Kudos to those two, J.Ross Lacy and Jeff Sparks. It's still a minority. But it's a start.

Low tech vehicle burglars not likely to by replaced by tech savvy thieves anytime soon

Not long ago there was a line of stories circulating among email lists that told of thieves simply opening the locked vehicle doors with their high tech devices. This line of story had the thieves parked nearby and intercepting the signal while the owner used her own key to lock the doors remotely. The lesson to be learned was that the owner should not use the remote but to lock the doors with the switch located on the door, thereby not transmitting a wireless signal.

That may be good advice. But the best part of it is to lock the door regardless of the method. Most vehicle burglaries occur when the owner walks away without locking the doors. Yeah, I know, out here in West Texas we all trust each other and don't expect that anyone would steal from us. But it happens.

Check out this graph from Crimemapping.com. It covers all reported crimes for the week ending 9/1/2016 in Midland, Texas. As you can see, 13, or about a quarter of the crimes, were vehicle break-in / thefts.

The slim jim is still around and works with older vehicles. Furthermore, a muscular burglar can use a pry bar to pry the door away from the jam. The burglar in a hurry will smash a window, grab whatever is available, and skedaddle. But the most common method is the one favored by the lazy burglar who simply checks door handles for unlocked doors and moves along until he finds one.

So the best thing to do is to keep the doors locked whenever you aren't in the vehicle. This applies even more so if there is a gun kept in the vehicle. Lock it or lose it.

Midland Development Corporation should watch Shark Tank

The MDC (Midland Development Corporation of Midland, Texas) is captivated by the space industry, and who isn't? But they are in the business of doling out government money.  So while we can look at the stars and dream, they should be looking at the economics.

When they granted a huge chunk of money to Xcor there was a lot of national attention focused on it. Midland was on the map and in the spotlight. That was the pay off -- all that national attention. Anything down the road would be gravy if anything actually did come of it.

However, the lesson was that there's money to be made from municipal development corporations if an applicant has a good story to tell.

Now we learn that they are at it again. See MDC explores possibility of vertical-launch rocket facility.

The folks at the MDC should watch the TV show "Shark Tank." If they did they could learn how real investors look at entrepreneurs and their ideas. And they would be asking the same questions the sharks ask. To wit:

What are your sales?
Do you own the patents?
Do you have a manufacturing facility?
How will you keep from being crushed by the big guys?

Maybe then they might focus on the steak, not the sizzle.

A new episode of Shark Tank is on each week, but if they get cable TV they can see a half dozen or more reruns of previous episodes per week. Do it for the tax payers. Learn to say, "I'm out."

Bustin for Badges -- hard duty for hard people

The last time I did volunteer work for this event the wind was powerful and the dust was horrific. See Blasted away at the Bad Boy Blast. (The owner of the name Bad Boy Blast has redirected it to make money for volunteer fire departments.)

This time the sporting clay shoot for the benefit of local law enforcement was called Bustin' for Badges, and it took place yesterday -- Friday, April 30, 2016. And the wind was powerful and the dust was horrific.

With the rain the area has had this past Spring the dust wasn't quite as bad as the previous time. However. with the 30 plus mph wind it was less than ideal. But never mind. The shooters enjoyed themselves, and the event probably earned a fair share of money even if it was down significantly from recent, boom time, years.

Some highlights:

1. The spectacle of a clay pigeon acting like a boomerang. The machine would launch it high into the air, it would hang for a second, then the wind would bring it back behind the launching machine. Look out below!

2. "Obama Presidential Library" signs on the port-a-potties. Make a donation. Liquid assets accepted.

3. Tilted Kilt Shooting Team. Needs practice.