JISD Board thanks locals

At the school board meeting last night, the board presented plaques of appreciation to Principal Mike Walker, Assistant Principal Terry Johnson, Marion County Sheriff’s Office (represented by Sheriff David McKnight), Jefferson Police Department (represented by Chief Gary Amburn), Superintendent Rob Barnwell, and JISD Chief Shawn Cox.

 The plaques read, “With heartfelt appreciation for your diligence, persistence, and working together to keep our students safe. Thank you from the Jefferson ISD School Board”

Burn ban in effect

Please be advised that Marion County Judge Lex A. Jones has ordered that a county wide burn ban be placed in effect immediately today, October 11, 2016.  
Due to extremely dry conditions this will be in effect until we receive substantial rainfall in Marion County.

 

NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR COMMERCIAL OIL & GAS WASTE DISPOSAL WELL PERMIT IN A NON-PRODUCTIVE ZONE

Longbranch Energy, L.P. , P.O. Box 716, Center, TX 75935 is applying to the Railroad Commission of Texas for a permit to dispose of produced salt water or other oil and gas waste by well injection into a porous formation not productive of oil and gas.

The applicant proposes to dispose of oil and gas waste into the Blossom Formation, Marion SWD, Well #1. The proposed disposal well is located 11 miles Northeast of Jefferson, TX in the Excelsior (Pettit) Field in Marion County. The waste water will be injected into the subsurface depth interval from 2,200’ to 2,500 feet.

Legal Authority: Chapter 27 of the Texas Water Code, as amended, Title 3 of the Texas Natural Resource Code, as amended, and the Statewide Rules of the Oil and Gas Division of the Railroad Commission of Texas.

Requests for a public hearing from persons who can show they are adversely affected or requests for further information concerning any aspect of the application should be submitted in writing, within 15 days of publication, to the Environmental Services Section, Oil and Gas Division, Railroad Commission of Texas, P.O. Box 12967, Austin, TX 78711 (Telephone 512-463-6792).

NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR COMMERCIAL OIL & GAS WASTE DISPOSAL WELL PERMIT IN A NON-PRODUCTIVE ZONE

NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR COMMERCIAL OIL & GAS WASTE DISPOSAL WELL PERMIT IN A NON-PRODUCTIVE ZONE

Longbranch Energy, L.P. , P.O. Box 716, Center, TX 75935 is applying to the Railroad Commission of Texas for a permit to dispose of produced salt water or other oil and gas waste by well injection into a porous formation not productive of oil and gas.

The applicant proposes to dispose of oil and gas waste into the Paluxy Formation, Marion County SWD, Well #1. The proposed disposal well is located 11 miles Northeast of Jefferson, TX in the Excelsior (Pettit) Field in Marion County. The waste water will be injected into the subsurface depth interval from 3,250’ to 3,750 feet.

Legal Authority: Chapter 27 of the Texas Water Code, as amended, Title 3 of the Texas Natural Resource Code, as amended, and the Statewide Rules of the Oil and Gas Division of the Railroad Commission of Texas.

Requests for a public hearing from persons who can show they are adversely affected or requests for further information concerning any aspect of the application should be submitted in writing, within 15 days of publication, to the Environmental Services Section, Oil and Gas Division, Railroad Commission of Texas, P.O. Box 12967, Austin, TX 78711 (Telephone 512-463-6792).

Are You On Track to Meet Your Financial Goals?

By Edward Jones, local representative  Joey Romano

26 W. Lafayette St. I  Jefferson, TX 75657, Ofc: 903-665-9965   Fax: 877-222-1931 

October is Financial Planning Month. And now that you know it’s Financial Planning Month (just in case you didn’t know before), why not take the opportunity to determine if you’re on the right path toward meeting your financial goals?
Consider taking these steps:

  • Identify your goals. To know if you’re making progress toward your goals, you first have to identify them. Of course, you’ll have a variety of goals in life, such as helping pay for your children’s college educations. More than likely, though, your most important long-term financial goal is to build enough resources to enjoy the retirement lifestyle you’ve envisioned. But we all have different ideas for how we want to spend our retirement years. Some of us may want to stay close to home, volunteering and pursuing our hobbies, while others want to visit the vineyards of Bordeaux or explore the pyramids of Egypt. So, name your goals and, as much as possible, put a price tag on them. Once you know about how much your retirement is going to cost, you can create an investment strategy that may ultimately provide you with the income you will need.
  • Don’t underestimate your cost of living. Even after you’ve identified some of your retirement goals, and estimated their costs, you still haven’t developed a complete picture of your future cost of living. You also need to take into account other potential major expenses, such as health care. Once you’re 65, you’ll get Medicare, but that won’t cover all your medical costs – and it might cover only a tiny portion of those expenses connected with long-term care, such as a nursing home stay or services provided by a home health aide. A financial professional can help you explore specific methods of dealing with these types of long-term care costs.
  • Locate “gaps” – and work to fill them. After you’ve had your investment strategy in place for a while, you may see that some “gaps” exist. Is your portfolio not growing as fast as it should to help you reach your goals? If not, you may need to review your asset allocation to make sure it is aligned with your risk tolerance and portfolio objective. Do you find that you own too many of the same types of investments? This overconcentration could be harmful to you if a downturn affects one particular asset class, and you own too much of that asset. To help prevent this from happening, be sure to diversify your dollars across a range of investment vehicles. Keep in mind, though, that diversification can’t guarantee a profit or protect against all losses.
  • Protect yourself – and your family. Saving for your ideal retirement is certainly a worthy goal, but you have other ones – such as providing for your family in case you aren’t around, or if you become ill or incapacitated and can’t work for a while. That’s why you will need adequate life insurance, and possibly disability insurance, too. Your employer may offer you both these types of coverage as an employee benefit, but it might not be enough – so you may want to explore private coverage as well.

Financial Planning Month will come and go. But by following the above suggestions, you can create some strategies that will bring you a lifetime of benefits.

Bull pups win against EF

Last night your 7th Grade Bullpups were defeated in a hard fought game against the EF Yellow Jackets 24-14. T.K. Carter, Falando Craver, and Ryan Yeater were defensive standouts during the game. Contravious Archield and Falando Craver scored touchdowns for the pups, while Josh Thomas added on a two point conversion.
Ty’Zavier Jones scored on a long touchdown run on the first play of scrimmage as the 8th Grade Bullpups cruised to a 34-6 victory over the visiting Yellow Jackets. The tough Bullpup defense shut down the EF offense all night long. Carlos “Turbo” Jackson intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown, then later in the game fielded an EF punt and returned it for his second touchdown of the night. Lyrik Rawls got in on the scoring action with a touchdown and a two point conversion. Jones finished the night with two TD’s and Joseph Allen added a two point conversion.
The Bullpups would like to thank all their fans for their support and invite them back to Fred Lockett Stadium next Thursday night as they take on the Jr. High Teams from Frankston.

Come help stop needless spending, tax increases in City

Publishers note: 

If you are a resident of the City of Jefferson, you need to attend the Budget and Tax Rate hearing tonight at 6 pm at city hall. The city is proposing a $200,000 increase over last years budget and a 5.5 cent tax increase to pay for it. In my opinion the tax increase is not needed as the City had a $300,000 surplus in the 2015 budget and are currently under budget for this year. 

My argument has been to give tax payers a break for at least one year and show us that the increase is needed. In other words do some of the things the city has been promising before taking more money from the citizens. 
They are listening but need to hear from more than just me. 
Let’s pack the council chambers tonight and let them know. 
6 pm TONIGHT at City Hall/fire station

Back to school blues

By Darla Upton, Columnist

I got another anonymous letter. 
I’m trying to decide if I should do anything with it.

Sure, after reading it I’m just as curious as the writer about how the powers that be make the decisions they make. 

Employment decisions seem to be at the forefront lately. As a city we seem to make poor decisions as it relates to employment. We seem almost slutty in our pursuits. We also seem to take huge gambles hoping for big pay offs. Slutty risk takers is fine in a college girlfriend but not so much in a city. 

Like, for example, my recent anonymous letter asked why an employee got a 14,000 –yes thousands– dollar raise when said person has only been here three years. Now, upon further looking the raise was given two years ago. So, in three years there has only been one raise. The employee has been here four years, or there about. But still – $14,000 for being here four years? That’s $4,000 for every year after hire. Not bad, right?

Here’s the kick in the head. Contractually the position could have had raises. Don’t you love those kinda contracts? The ones that say you are entitled, yes, entitled to a certain pay raise each year after hire. So, with a contractual pay rise let’s just say first year anniversary the position should have gotten $3200. The second year the position shoulda gotten somewhere in the area of $3300 more. The fourth year would have generated a raise in the neighborhood of $3400. So as the position starts rolling to another year then that $14,000 is right on the entitled raises fast track. 

Entitled to a $14,000 raise. Hmm. Most people hate the word “entitled.” I see memes all over the Internet preaching about how awful entitled kids are and how no one is entitled to anything. 

So I’m thinking entitled sucks unless it is in an employment contract. 

I gotta get me one of those. 

Now, hold on to your hats because it gets better. Apparently, there’s more…..

According to a board member this employee is also given a $10,000 (yes 10 THOUSAND) a year stipend to drive to work….

Wait! What? Yes, the position not only got $14,000 added to a paycheck in four years but also receives another perk. There seems to be $10,000 A YEAR for uh, gas money and car maintenance to take said person to and from the job. The job said person applied for. Applied for knowing it was several miles from home to job. 

Wait now, I know what you are thinking. 

“I don’t get a separate check to drive to work when it was my happy arse that applied for a job in a town I don’t live in.”

Any of y’all get paid to travel into Marshall or Longview to work? Well if you are, good for you. If you don’t, then you are like me and think that is part of the heartache of a job. Things like waking up for said job, dressing appropriately for said job, using money from said job to pay for my car and for the gas to get me to and from said job.

I mean, ducking hell, that kinda raise and than kinda perk means you must not only be a great person to work with but also doing a ducking outstanding job and reports would prove it. 

I mean, to quote Office Space, “Brian, over there, has lots of flair.” I’m thinking this employee has lots of flair and “upper management written all over” him. 

Now, if a person is such a catch that I’m lucky to have them as an employee then I might pay your way to come see me. One has to look at the base pay of a job. Often base pay may not be much but the perks and bonuses and insurance make it worth it. I mean, in good jobs it’s a negotiation–a courtship, even.

I mean, it’s like a good fling. You negotiate with a man right he will pay your gas and maybe eventually your car payment. If you do things right, he might buy you a building and paint your ducking door yellow. I’m just saying employment isn’t much different. She may not be much to look at but she sure can cook. Perks. Bonuses. 

So, back to this letter. Now, that I know this person got 14,000 more dollars and gets $10,000 a year just for showing up I have to wonder how the negotiations, if any, went. I have to hope we weren’t just out of the gate promising raises, gas money and long walks on the beach. I have to hope maybe promises were made to us. Maybe we are contractually entitled to some things. Maybe. Hopefully. Maybe they promised to do certain things and not talk during the Super Bowl. But I wasn’t at the negotiations so one may never know exactly how all that went back and forth.

As it relates to these anonymous letters I had to consider if this position required the person go in and clean house? Often businesses need the fat trimmed. People get stagnant in their roles. They end up taking raises year after year and not really bring anything to the table anymore. We all know people who are making maxed out salaries simply because they’ve been at a job for years but yet aren’t really doing stellar jobs. They do the minimum for that maximum salary. So, my first thought is did this person clean house? Often cutting the fat brings disgruntled employees that write anonymous letters. I took that into consideration. And it would appear as though a lot of employees have left employment freeing up monies. Was that part of the negotiations? Cut the fat get more perks? I don’t know. But let’s just say that was not the case. I think a potential employer would be retarded to make that sort of agreement. If you want a team to come in and cut your fat you hire them to do just that. There are companies that specialize in helping companies save money. You don’t give that sort of power to one person and that person directly benefit from it. Now, am I saying powers that be in our town aren’t retarded enough to make such a deal…no, I’m not saying that. They are EXACTLY that retarded. However, for this hypothetical let’s make our powers that be a little smarter than the average bear, ok?

Alright, so fat cutting took place. Looks like about $19,000 has been saved in replacing employees or just eliminating jobs and/or employees. It is a big rumor mill but yes, people are gone and yes, there are new employees. Are they cheaper and less experienced employees? Likely, I didn’t look into each person’s background. You go do it. I’m tired of all the he said she said surrounding it. 

Anyway, it is nothing new for loyalty to be disregarded by an employer in order to bring in cheaper. Even when it has been proven the monetary gains made when hiring the less experienced is short lived because they often utilize you as a stepping stone to a new, better employer and you are left hiring and training a worker all over again when you could have just kept your old, loyal employee and capped salaries based on new ideas and continuing education. 

Ok, so we got some newbies, cut some fat, saved some money. 

So, far he has earned a raise, right? I don’t know if we are at $14,000 raise but just for argument sake let’s say the base pay when hired was crap so saving $19,000 covers that $14,000 raise. Again, I don’t think one paid for the other but just to keep the figures tight you save a company money they give you recognition. That’s a good courtship. Yearly anniversaries are all candlelight, roses and nice earrings. There’s still love between employee and employer but the underlings are getting antsy. Well, this isn’t an orgy. It’s a courtship of two so the underlings can suck it. 

But the job wasn’t just to cut fat –and as I stated before I don’t think that should ever be a person’s job who is new unless it’s a financial firm contracted to do so. My thought is if you lack the sack and the nerve to reach into it and pull out walking papers then you shouldn’t be in charge of anything.

Now, the meat of the position is dealing with employees and scoring. Got the employee thing handled. Just from the letters I’ve gotten and what I can get people to say when asked, employees are either staying or leaving. Some say it was time others say he’s a beast. You can’t please everyone. A company has a lot of personalities in it. Not everyone is gonna mesh. Let’s take a look at the other duty of the position. Performance. 

In a lot of companies there’s a scoring. A way to judge performance. The idea being how you are as a leader shines in your employees. If your employees fail, you fail. On oil rigs ya got underlings, supervisors, janitors and OSHA. There’s always a report card that lets ya know how you are doing your job when you are at the top of the chain. 

Day to day work–daily worksheets, if you will– count maybe 20% of your grade. The big test though, that’s the one everyone is looking at to see if you are making the cut. 

 Now, I have no idea how our Prom King is performing when it comes to his daily duties. As for popularity, I’m not sure he’ll keep the crown but then I only have a letter to defer to. All I know is those report card scores. They are pretty black and white. Scores are down, folks. 

And like when your kid brings home that D they can probably explain it away. Maybe they bombed a project. Maybe the teacher hates them. Maybe they were sick and missed a lot of work. There are plenty of reasons why scores aren’t just numbers, sometimes there is a story behind them. A story of a struggle. A story of finding the problem and fixing it. 
But sometimes the story is you didn’t study so you got it wrong.

Sometimes the story has a twist at the end when you find out the company they worked at before, well, their report card grades went up after the person left. 

But, here’s the things, people.

I don’t care. 

I really don’t. 

In case you haven’t figured it out this is all school related. 

My kid doesn’t go to any local schools. Yeah, the property taxes in town are stifling and I have yet to figure out exactly where the money goes. The majority of people in town are seniors which mean their taxes are frozen and year after year younger property owners are expected to pick up the slack with higher and higher taxes. Yes, there’s a school board but for every jerk you vote off two other jerks remain. Voted to remain. By the time you get any real change, your kid’s public school education is over and he’s working on his masters three states away. Changes, if they come, take forever and I don’t have that kinda time. 

So, I will give you the same advice I gave the last time I got an anonymous letter. If you hate your job–and don’t say, “I love my job. I hate the administration”–because the administration is part of your job and it’s never going to change–so, if you hate your job, leave it. If you feel like your kid isn’t prepared for college, figure that crap out for your kid. Get them out of the district that isn’t performing well and get them in one that is. Again, by the time you change it your kid will have missed years of higher learning. Is that what you want? To spin your wheels trying to get change or help your kid? 

I don’t homeschool but plenty of people do. Check that out. I took my kid to a neighboring district early on. Check that out. We have Atticus in k12.com which is an online Texas public school. He logs online to a classroom, with a teacher and everything. He has work and tests and they ship all the materials needed. I didn’t buy a single school supply this year. They even sent an art kit for his art class. He never has homework. He gets an hour lunch. He spends about an hour playing with our dogs during his break. We still stop working by 3:30 p.m. Is it for everyone? No. Is it an option? Yes. Don’t waste years trying to get what you want from your district. Make changes for your kid. 
If you are an educator. Get out. Look at your budget and cut the fat at your home so you can take a lower paying job and not have to deal with some jerk telling you how to do your job. There are all sorts of little private schools. Hugh and I have even discussed that if a couple of innovative educators rented a space and agreed to “sit” with K12 kids while parents were at work they could have an easy job doing what they love. 
The curriculum is already worked out. The kids all have on headphones working their grade. You walk around to help if they get stuck or to check their work. You would essentially play the role the parent would if they weren’t at work. Provide tutoring at the end of the day and you have a nice little job without an administrator. Ta Da! 

Stop being unhappy forcing change around you because you believe you are right and they are wrong and instead pack yo stuff up and get gone. Leave them to their wrong way of doing things and you go do it better all day long somewhere else. 
But do it quietly. Don’t tell me about it.
Stop sending me anonymous letters. 
The only anonymous letters I want to get are ones asking for my advice. I think I’ll start doing an advice column. 

Excelsior House Hotel Completes Porch Restoration

The Excelsior House Hotel, a historic hotel located in downtown Jefferson, Texas, announced Aug. 2, 2016, that it has completed restoration of the hotel’s breakfast sun porch and dining area made possible by a donation from the Schluter Foundation.  Construction renovations of the room were completed by local contractor, Nick Linebarger.
 “We believe the room addition of the sun porch was originally constructed in around the 1970’s.  Breakfast is served daily Tuesday through Sunday on the sun porch.  It is also available for private events, as well” stated Nikki Elms, General Manager.
 The Excelsior House Hotel would like to invite the public to attend an open house of the facility at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016, and will include fresh coffee and our World Famous Orange Blossom Muffins.
Sun Porch Interior #1  Sun Porch Exterior #1