September
21, 2006
Gas Bored
and Virused Off?
By Jack D.
McNamara
West
Nile Virus in Alpine?
No,
contrary to the erroneous statement by Mayor Mickey Clouse Tuesday,
September 12 during council members’ comments … no we got no West Nile
virus here at West June and 5th Street.
The
council had just completed a round of vigorous discussion as to whether
or not the city had the responsibility to cut the grass and weeds in
the alleys … interesting discussion placed on the agenda by Avinash
Rangra following calls from complaining constituents. And yes, there
are mosquitoes lurking in the weeds as we wind up our desert monsoon
season.
The
council’s commentaries come at the end of the session and include
matters not on the agenda, sort of random ramblings to show they are
still awake.
Mayor
Clouse got everyone’s attention — immediate attention — when she
described several complaints from a citizen concerning the uncut grass
on a neighbor’s property. (Complainants’ identities are confidential
under Texas law.) The mayor said the unnamed citizen called the Texas
Department of Health.
“West Nile
virus,” the mayor solemnly proclaimed.
“Where?”
shouted several in the audience.
“At
West June and 5th Street,” said the mayor. My Backyard.
I
immediately inspected the property with the aid of automobile
headlights. It was lying there, vacant, the weeds and range grass about
8 inches high in some places, as it usually is, year in, year out,
until the owner currently resident in New Mexico hires someone to cut
the grass, as he regularly does.
In other
words, the flat grassy lot looked a lot like several thousand square
miles of rangeland all over the Big Bend and especially like numerous
sister vacant lots all over Alpine.
That is a
lot of potential West Nile virus, I thought.
Next
morning I called city hall but they had no more information than they
had the previous evening when they were as surprised as everyone else
in the Council Chambers.
The city’s
mower was at work early Wednesday at 5th and West June but only for the
purpose of cutting the city’s street right-of-way. By Monday someone
had trimmed the lot.
KVLF
reported the mayor’s comments but did not proclaim West Nile virus on
Wednesday. On Thursday the Alpine Avalanche reported in the last
paragraph of their story covering the Tuesday council meeting, “During
the mayoral comments portion of the evening Mayor Mickey Clouse said a
citizen has reported that the Texas Department of Health discovered the
West Nile virus in the town. The Texas Department of Health has told
the Avalanche the virus has not been found in town or Brewster County.”
Uh, OK …
where did the mayor get the idea?
I
couldn’t reach the Alpine TDH inspector either Wednesday or Thursday so
Friday I called TDH El Paso. Erica Quinones had no report of the virus
in Alpine.
I called
Austin TDH Friday morning and reached Eric Fonken. He said he had just
heard from Jeff Heinatz, the Alpine TDH investigator, who told Fonken
that he had collected larvae (not mosquitoes) and there were “Culex”
larvae.
Heinatz
called me shortly thereafter and confirmed he had “scooped larvae at
the property reported (not 5th and West June) and sent them to Austin
for testing,” as is the TDH procedure. He said he never proclaimed
mosquitoes and West Nile virus to anyone.
Several
Websites about West Nile virus are on the Internet and are updated
daily on the locations of
communicable diseases such as West Nile virus. Only a couple of
counties west of I-35 have reported cases this year. El Paso County
reported several cases last week.
So the
boosters are safe. No epidemic yet. There is a slight increase in the
incidence of the disease this year in Texas, from 139 incidents and 11
deaths to 141 incidents with 18 deaths.
Gas in
Alpine?
The Board
of Directors of the Southwest Texas Municipal Gas Corporation almost
met Monday.
Three
directors — Hester Ann White of Marfa, Avinash Rangra and Bud Powers of
Alpine — Alpine Auditor Shaw Skinner, board lawyer Bill Fowler of
Odessa and several spectators joined manager Melvin Davis, Jr. for a
meaty agenda including appointment of new directors, the budget and the
agreement between the two cities.
Except
there was no meeting. Once again, a quorum failed as the mayor of
Alpine, Mickey Clouse, and the mayor of Marfa, David Lanman both failed
to show up. Two Marfa members whose terms are expiring also failed to
show up. Various reasons were cited but we can quickly cite the cause
for readers of this column —
Alpineitis.
A majority of the no-shows were Marfans so the mutated version of the
virus was also present; but the original carrier Mayor Mickey Clouse
was involved so Alpine gets the credit.
What is
going on is that some current directors are prepared to deal with the
gas board’s responsibilities. The mayors have their own agendas
however, which include getting their hands on the cash reserves of the
gas company for their respective city budgets. So they are
quorum-busting; that is, refusing to attend meetings at which they
might be out-voted by their fellow citizen-appointees.
Hester Ann
White, who I had not previously met, said the board’s responsibility
was to make sure they elect consumer- oriented officials, particularly
those who would make safety a priority, as has the new manager, Melvin
Davis, Jr.
Since
1998, when the board’s bonds were paid off, the two cities have
wrangled interminably about the division of the spoils. The spoils are
the money paid by the citizens.
Attorney
Bill Fowler, who was paid for his time coming here from Odessa, led an
interesting discussion on the gas company’s history. Which led, in
light of the obvious intent of the missing mayors, to a discussion of
the company’s future.
Which
appears dim if the mayors intend to obstruct action until they get
their cash.
The
current problem is the alarming state of some of the gas lines, a
problem manager Melvin Davis appears ready to tackle if he could get a
budget.
But the
mayors want the money and they won’t come to a meeting until they can
get their own appointees who will vote them the boodle. Which means the
gas infrastructure will continue to deteriorate until the service is so
bad the citizens will agree to sell it to someone, anyone.
Sounds
like the Alpine water system and several other public utilities,
doesn’t it? •
(Also
published by the Big Bend Sentinel of Marfa, Texas September 21, 2006)
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