Posted on the article in the Seguin Gazette about flood sirens

The Guadalupe County Clarion Call and The Seguin Sirens

The threat is real. The waters indeed rise quickly. Indeed they always have. And, I suggest to the citizens that the threat of rising waters today is much more severe than in all our past yesterday’s.

Early detection, early warning, sirens and clarion calls are desperately needed however, my concern is that the people will not hear the siren, that they will not heed the call, that they will disregard the danger and fail to navigate the treacherous waters in spite of the clear warnings.

You may ask yourselves “what is this saying? Why would we ignore the warnings?”

I answer, because the warnings have been so common place already, more warnings will become even more so, that the people have become accustomed to warnings. The people have become so accustomed to dangerous rising waters that the warnings, the obvious signs of danger, have become commonplace and subsequently disregarded.

Rising waters that would have caused the people great alarm fifty years ago do not even elicit a second thought today. Flash flooding that would have caused the people to turn around twenty years ago do not even raise an eyebrow today.

Sirens are only effective if the people listen. Early warnings only save lives if the people heed them and change course, if they mitigate the danger because they have heeded the warnings.

The threat is real.

The rising waters are not only confined to the banks of the Guadalupe and the San Marcos Rivers.

It should also be noted that the article communicates to the citizens the cost the taxpayers will spend on these sirens. It should also be noted that while much devastating loss of life has occurred in other counties that this county has been blessed and there are zero flood related fatalities here.

However, I suggest that the citizens are disregarding even more severe threats, the warning signs of rising waters of a different kind, and they have become so accustomed to the dangers because said dangers are commonplace.

The citizens are accustomed to lying politicians, men and women who have public policy that does not mirror factual policy. This lack of honesty and integrity is evinced locally and all the way up to the Executive Branch head who resides on Pennsylvania Avenue. Citizens are routinely lied to by their elected officials and it elicits no indignation or even frustration due to the fact that such dishonorable conduct is commonplace in today’s society.

More alarming to me than dishonest officials who are adept at high-sounding words, smooth talk, hyperbole and vain rhetoric, is that the most vulnerable of society, the weakest of our local citizens, the ones who need the most help- these are the citizens that are preyed upon by our local officials. This point is not debatable- just look at the population of the county jail on any given day and you will ascertain instantly that Sheriff Joshua Ray only locks up the poor, the uneducated, the mentally ill, and those who battle with alcohol and drug dependency issues- which for more than one hundred years in this nation, and indeed the West, has been medically defined as a disease. Sick people need doctors Sheriff Ray, not years spent in your jail and a criminal record. Sheriff Ray does not lock up the rich, the affluent, the educated and the healthy and whole citizen. Yet, we have the data- for instance we know unequivocally that alcohol and addiction does not regard race or socioeconomic status. Meaning: rich affluent educated citizens struggle with alcohol and drug addiction the same as the poor and uneducated but you do not see this reflected in the jail population. Ray will not arrest and charge you if you are one of the upper echelon. Sheriff Ray preys upon the weakest of our society, he preys upon and profits from the least.

Yet this deplorable, predatory behavior is so commonplace that the people are accustomed to it.

The waters are rising fast.

In the short time of Sheriff Ray’s administration there have been five officers fired for serious criminal charges. You the taxpayers pay him over 200k a year and essentially you have purchased for yourselves leadership that averages an officer being charged with a serious crime every 4 to 5 months. Well, that’s not all true, you also get some very smooth politically motivated rhetoric designed to make you think that everything is ok and that Sheriff Ray has amazing policies that reflect the best interest of the citizens. Has no meaning. No substance or value and is in stark contrast to factual policy but it sounds good and that seems to be the only thing that matters to the people.

Warning signs abound.

An example of a loud, obvious and striking recent siren that was ignored and disregarded by the citizens of Seguin was when the people acquiesced when a Seguin PD officer gave a minor a concussion over an alleged minor traffic violation. The kid was riding his bike citizens. If you believe that there is any excuse for law enforcement slamming a child to the ground over a minor traffic violation then please refrain from ever telling me that face to face. Please. [1, 2]

What is more striking is that Chief Jason Brady did not fire the officer immediately. Of course the officer, undoubtedly emboldened by not being disciplined by Brady, went on to use excessive force again. Chief Brady fires him the second time- not the first time when he injured a child over a traffic violation. Kid was riding his bike citizens. [1, 2]

By the way citizens of Seguin- you pay Chief Brady over $100,000 a year. You pay Steve Parker over 300k a year. Neither men felt that defending the children of Seguin was preimminent to insulating the city from civil litigation. [1, 2]

These are warning signs City of Seguin. Severe warnings. The least of your community, a child, was pummeled and slammed by law enforcement and you were told that it was standard procedure and textbook police technique and you bought it. They were concerned about admitting guilt, liability, they protected themselves against civil lawsuit and did so rather than protect a child. [1, 2, 3]

The waters are breaking the banks of the river.

Jesus makes this relevant statement in Matthew: “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’, and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.”

Zero fatalities from floods. That is the data here in Guadalupe County. This evinces the fact that for over a hundred years the citizens have safely mitigated this disaster and danger apart from spending millions of dollars and vast government influence. You the taxpayers are spending millions on sirens to circumvent the dangers of flooding that past citizens circumvented with horse and buggy.

You the citizens are told that millions of dollars are needed for sirens to warn the people of floods that past citizens easily survived while not having internet or phones or even electricity.

Zero fatalities in this county from floods.

Yet, the blatant and glaring danger of local law enforcement injuring a child, being criminally charged with sexual misconduct and violating the civil rights of inmates, being charged with domestic violence and DWI- these warnings the citizens disregard and are led to believe that they should pay millions of dollars for sirens to protect them from flooding when not one citizen has died from a flood here.

I’m going to open up a real estate company here in Seguin. I’m going to be offering all of you ocean front property in Arizona. I’m going to get rich.

The waters are rising fast but I suggest that you save your money. Keep the millions citizens. Because if you have disregarded the obvious sirens I have laid out herein there isn’t a million dollar horn in the world that can get your attention.

Navigate yourselves accordingly citizens.

The threat is real.