My term as your president will soon come to an end. It has been a great honor to serve you in this capacity the past year. I have met some wonderful people while traveling from conference to conference all over the state. Texas people are the warmest and friendliest in the world. I appreciate the way you have all rolled out the welcome mat when I visited to address the assemblies.
I have had a great deal of help this year from the officers of the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas, our legal counsel Jim Allison, Texas Association of Counties, Rick Avery with V. G. Institute of County Government, Texas Cooperative Extension, County Progress, and many, many others. I could not have made it through this year without you guys and dolls – a heartfelt thanks to all of you.
We have made some progress this year by dogging the Legislature and thereby defeating bills concerning finance caps and appraisal caps. We also obtained the strongest truth-in-taxation legislation in the nation. We still face serious problems in the future. Because legislators need someone to blame for their shortcomings in funding education for the children of Texas, county leaders have been branded as incompetent and untrustworthy. The real, simple fact is that like the federal Congress, the Texas Legislature just cannot work together for the betterment of the Texas school children and citizens of Texas.
This brings me to another personal note. When I was a small child growing up in the Panhandle of West Texas, my mother always told me before I went out to play, “Van, play nice with the other children. If you do not, you will get a spanking when you come back into the house!” I received some serious spankings from my little 5’6”, 110-pound mother, but I learned to play nice.
Some of our legislators and members of Congress need this training. I plan to help with this belated training by studying voting records and ideologies before I enter the voting booth at the next election. I urge you to do the same. There are some great legislators and members of Congress who have put their political lives on the line to help us, and we owe them all of our support. Other self-serving legislators who were put into office by the people of the United States and the state of Texas know who they are, and until we can get these people out of office, our citizens will suffer. We have got to adopt a more active political role because the Legislature is taking advantage of our citizens.
On to more pleasant thoughts! As you are receiving this issue, we are in the middle of a great conference in Lubbock. I appreciate everyone who has chosen to attend. This conference offers a more relaxed, casual atmosphere than normal conferences while depicting the Old West. For example, our banquet will feature 13-ounce steaks at the famous Cagle’s Steak House west of Lubbock. Vendor Appreciation Night at the Ranching Heritage Center includes a tour of the center and an evening of dancing and eating chicken fried steak by the chuck wagon. We are thankful to Lubbock, the host court, for planning the terrific Taste of Texas evening. While in Lubbock, we are discussing many valuable topics such as working with the Legislature, grant seeking and funding, jail administration, and voting machines, to name just a few.
Van York, CJCAT President