Message from the President

Summer is almost over, and school will begin soon. According to my grandchildren, some students hope there will not be a new school finance bill so they will not have to go back to school. Others will be really upset if they miss one day of school. Some are sad, and some are glad. I know how they feel.
At the time of this writing, there has been some movement on the school finance bill, and hopefully the revenue caps bills have been stifled, thanks to Jim Allison and our fellow county judges and commissioners. There are also some wonderful friends of county government in the Senate and the House of Representatives who are working on our behalf. We need to let them know how much we appreciate them and the work they have been doing. Our legal counsel and your Association have kicked into overdrive to retell the county story and the effects that these bills will have on county government. As off press time, the final outcome of this Session was unknown.
Senate Bill 18 by Rep. Williams and Rep. Janek passed in the 79th Regular Session and has since become law. This new law, with its stringent new requirements for truth and taxation, will be a lot more work for the county commissioners court, but it is workable. There is no need for any more laws that will cap county revenue and tie the hands of counties.
Plans for the Annual State Conference to be conducted in Lubbock Oct. 3-6 have picked up speed, and final arrangements for education, festivities, etc., are being made. We are really expecting to have a great conference, so I hope you have made plans to attend. Information about the conference can be found in this month’s County Progress.
Finally, I would like to take a personal moment in this column to salute our soldiers in Iraq, those at home, and also those deployed in other countries around the world. I flew to California recently and met two wonderful young Army men on their way to Iraq via Ireland after a short leave to visit their young families. Each young man had a young daughter. They were 2 days of age and 1 month of age, respectively, when their dads left to fight in Iraq. They are now 7 months and 8 months, respectively. Dad missed a lot while he was gone, such as the first laugh, the first tooth, and many other things that little girls do in the first six or seven months of life. The little girls did not know Daddy when he returned to see how they had grown during his absence.
“That was really hard, and leaving again is even harder,” said one of the soldiers. They will now miss the first step and probably the first word. As the plane climbed into the sky over their hometown, the other young man touched his wedding band and wiped away tears from his eyes while watching the earth disappear below him. He hoped no one would notice. I noticed, and secret tears fell from my eyes, also. Maybe no one noticed. God Bless our men and women who are putting their lives on the line and giving up so much for our country!
Van L. York